ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00017376
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 | CA-00022484-001 | 08/10/2018 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 28/02/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act and Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).
Background:
The Complainant was claiming constructive dismissal due to his honesty and integrity being questioned and that the Respondent had breached the bond of trust with him. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Complainant made a verbal submission. The Complainant was employed as a Restaurant Supervisor for nearly 10 years and stated he was of good reputation. His partner joined the company and had an accident after 6 months. He stated he was confronted by the General Manager as to why he did a shift swop and he stated his girlfriend needed to go to Hospital. He was challenged as to why he sent in a sick cert and that he was supporting his partner and that “we will make trouble for you”. He was told he was committing fraud and the accident was all planned. He was on salary and his hours of work as per the clock were changed by “someone”. He was told that he would get no more favours anymore and that he was trying to get money from the Respondent due to his girlfriend having an accident at work. He stated other Managers were “lined up to have a go at him”. A Mediator was employed but the mediation never took place and he found a new job at less money per week. He felt he had to leave the employment.
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Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent made a verbal submission. The Complainant did make a couple of complaints re rosters and times. The Complainant did request holidays in April but due to other staff being off he could not be facilitated fully per his request. He was given 7 of the 11 days he requested and was unhappy after that and kept complaining about shifts. He resigned on June 23rd 2018. He emailed his resignation and did not turn up for his shift. He started work elsewhere after a couple of days. His clock hours were not changed and he provided no evidence to support this. He made a complainant re inappropriate words being said to him and this was the subject of an external investigation and a Mediator was employed to conduct a mediation between the parties however the Complainant left before the process could even get started. |
Decision:
Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the unfair dismissal claim consisting of a grant of redress in accordance with section 7 of the 1977 Act.
Section 1b of the Act defines dismissal as follows “the termination by the employee of his contract of employment with his employer, whether prior notice of the termination was or was not given to the employer, in circumstances in which, because of the conduct of the employer, the employee was or would have been entitled, or it was or would have been reasonable for the employee, to terminate the contract of employment without giving prior notice of the termination to the employer” In order for a claim for constructive dismissal to proceed there must be enough evidence that the situation the Complainant found himself in was that the conduct of the employer made it unreasonable to continue in the employment and that he followed any grievance procedures to bring his issues through the internal grievance procedure. While in this case the Complainant issues were with senior management and he felt he would not get a fair Hearing he did not raise any formal complaints of the serious nature he alleges and did not engage meaningfully in the internal grievance process or external mediation to resolve the issues. The Complainant, while stating various offensive things were said to him did not really provide any clear evidence to support his claim that he was being victimised by Management in a way that affected him continuing in employment. It is impossible for an Adjudicator to take what is alleged to have been said and denied by the Respondent as pure evidence. There was no evidence offered by the Complainant of a direct action by the Respondent that was so detrimental to the employment relationship that made the continuation in employment by the Complainant unreasonable. Overall, I find that the alleged grounds why the Complainant left the employment were not supported by evidence and that his failure to complete the grievance procedure leaves the Complainants case on weak grounds and as a result the claim for Unfair Dismissal must fail accordingly. |
Dated: 29/04/19
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Key Words:
Constructive Dismissal |