Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Cleaner

A Cleaning Company

Representatives

John Barry Management Support Services (Ireland) Ltd

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00020115-001

01/07/2018

The worker’s dispute included that her allegations were not investigated appropriately and that the employer reversed a decision regarding her need to work weekends.

The worker raised a number of allegations with the employer in November 2017. She detailed that there was also an agreement around this time that she would not have to work weekends and for the month of January the employer honoured this agreement. A copy of an email from the shop steward who attended this meeting confirmed that this was the agreement. However, in February 2018 the worker was told that she had not been promised this.     Her solicitor wrote to the employer in February 2018 and on 22nd February 2018 the employer advised that they did not uphold her allegations.

The employer also told her in that letter that the matter was now closed.

A copy of the company’s handbook details that “the manager will also inform the employee in writing of their right of appeal if they are dissatisfied with the outcome”.   The worker detailed that she was never informed of this.

The worker remained out of work from approximately April till July 2018 owing to the stress of the events. When she resigned the employer looked to meet with her but she did not wish to meet with them as they had not engaged with her in any meaningful way prior to this. The impact of these incidents on her mental health was also detailed.

The employer did not attend. The employer on a previous occasion had sought an adjournment which was granted. I confirmed that a letter had issued notifying the employer of the date, time and location of the hearing. I find their failure to attend in the circumstances to be unexplained in the circumstances.

The worker was very upset with the way she had been treated by the employer and was very emotional at times during the hearing.   English was not her first language and it was difficult at times for her to communicate her dispute and she utilised a friend to help her translate.

She detailed that one of the reasons her grievance was dismissed was because she had communicated the wrong month that an incident occurred, owing to her poor English, but was never given an opportunity to explain this or appeal the decision of the employer regarding her allegations.

I note that the employer’s letter to her which did not uphold her allegations details “the company now considers the matter closed”.

This is despite their own policy contained in the handbook she provided, detailing “the manager will also inform the employee in writing of their right to appeal if they are dissatisfied with the outcome”. I also note that it was the worker’s understanding that she would not have to work weekends which is supported by the fact that she did not work weekends in January.

Taking into consideration all the details of the dispute, I recommend the following:

I recommend that the employer pay to the worker the sum of €450 in compensation for the distress and upset caused, including their failure to follow their own grievance procedure.

I further recommend that the employer review their methods of communication to workers where English is not their first language which I believe contributed to a lot of the issues which arose.

I recommend the following:

I recommend that the employer pay to the worker the sum of €450 in compensation for the distress and upset caused, including their failure to follow their own grievance procedure.

I further recommend that the employer review their methods of communication to workers where English is not their first language which I believe contributed to a lot of the issues which arose.