Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Manager

A Hospital

Representatives

IBEC

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-00030863-001

12/09/2019

The complainant alleges that he was bullied and harassed by his line manager and this has caused him to be absent from work on sick leave since January 2018. The respondent appointed an investigator to look into the complaints he made but he claims the report was flawed. The respondent says the investigation was carried out in accordance with their procedures and the report did not uphold his complainants.

The complaint related a number of incidents which he claimed amount to bullying and harassment by his line manager, from 2016 through to January 2018. He made a written complaint to the respondent in June 2018 under their Dignity at Work Policy. The complainant found the investigation report to be “fundamentally flawed”. He had no right of appeal. He asserts that the bullying and harassment took place and he has no way of resolving his complaints internally.

The respondent appointed an independent investigator shortly after receiving the complaints from the complainant, in accordance with their Dignity at Work Policy. The investigation report decided that no bullying or harassment took place and the complainant was advised accordingly. The policy does not allow for an appeal. The respondent noted that the complainant’s line manager, against whom the complaints were made, has now left the respondent. As has the line manager’s manager; whom the complainant implicated in his complaints.

The complainant made this complaint under the Industrial Relations Act as he had no means of internal appeal of the outcome of the investigation into his complaints made under the respondent’s Dignity at Work Policy. My role is not to carry out another investigation.

I have considered the external investigator’s report and I can see nothing that would cast doubt on its probity. I also conclude that it was carried out in accordance with the respondent’s procedures. I, therefore, recommend the complainant accept its findings and the parties work together to facilitate the complainant’s return to work.

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.

For the reasons stated above I recommend that the worker accepts the outcome of the investigation report. The complainant has been on sick leave since January 2018, from the stress he felt the incidents that were included in his complaints to the respondent caused him. I recommend that the complainant consider discussing a return to work with the respondent; particularly now that his previous line manager in no longer employed by the employer. In this respect I also recommend that the employer do their best to engage with the worker to discuss a possible return to work.