Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Worker

A Public Body

Representatives

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

CA-00027878-001

18/04/2019

The Worker is a senior Manager with long service who has worked with the hospital for over 10 years. This is a small working environment.

He made a complaint of bullying and harassment against his line manager in July 2018.

The Worker has made a complaint of bullying and harassment under the Dignity at Work Policy against his line manager. He declined mediation sought an independent Investigation in August 2018.

No change was made to the Worker’s reporting relationship following his complaint. As the investigation had not progressed, five months later he went out on sick-leave for a number of weeks. The following month he received draft Terms of Reference for the investigation, and two internal managers were appointed to investigate his complaint. Twelve months have passed with no progress towards an investigation.

The Worker made a request for change of a line manager in January 2019, and this change was only commenced in June 2019.

The Respondent received a complaint of bullying behaviour from the Complainant regarding his direct manager.

The Complainant seeks an external investigator to be appointed to investigate his complaint. The Respondent has internal investigators who have no relationship to the service area and the parties, who are utilised in these situations. The Complainant will agree to utilise 1 external investigator and 1 internal investigator, which the Respondent has refused. The Respondent says to accede will undermine the employer in carrying out investigations, would likely raise a bias issue for the Respondent and would incur unnecessary costs. The internal investigators are trained and experienced investigators. The Complainant has not set out any reasonable objections to the team appointed.

The complaint was lodged on 10th July 2018. An investigation team was appointed on 14th January 2019.The Complainant object to the investigation team on 28th January 2019. The HSE Dignity at Work Policy provides that any issues regarding the acceptability of the investigation team should be referred to the national working group. The national working group has long stood down from its role.

The Complainant is seeking the employer appoints his nominated investigators to examine his complaint of bullying against his manager. This is unreasonable, it is a complaint which should be dealt with under the HSE’s Dignity at Work Policy.

I have heard the evidence of the parties and carefully considered their written submissions.

I note that the terms of the Dignity at Work Policy were negotiated on a partnership basis by a Working Group containing representatives from the Respondent and Trade Unions. The mechanism put in place to resolve disputes regarding the appointment of an Investigator is no longer operating.

The difficulties in agreeing a mutually acceptable investigator have caused significant delay for the parties in dealing with the complaint.

I recommend the parties proceed with an investigation into the Workers complaint by a team of internal investigators appointed by the Respondent. If there are any specific objections to the individuals proposed this should be outlined by the Worker, in order to identify suitable investigators. The investigation should commence immediately and conclude no later than end of March 2020. There is an opportunity for the Worker to comment on the draft investigation report before it is finalised, as set out in the Dignity at Work Policy.

If the Worker is not satisfied with the findings of the Investigation, I recommend he has a full right of appeal to an independent external Investigator. The independent external investigator shall be agreed between the parties or in default of agreement will be nominated by the President of the Law Society.

I recommend the parties proceed with an investigation into the Workers complaint by a team of internal investigators appointed by the Respondent. The investigation should commence immediately and conclude no later than end of March 2020.

If the Worker is not satisfied with the findings of the Investigation, I recommend he has a full right of appeal of the investigation findings to an independent external Investigator. The independent external investigator shall be agreed between the parties or in default of agreement will be nominated by the President of the Law Society.

Internal Investigator, External Independent Investigator, right of appeal