Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A community employment supervisor

A community employment organisation.

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts

CA-00021064-001

09/08/2018

The Complainant commenced employment on 8th May 2017 in the position of Temporary Supervisor on a short-term contract which was due to end on 16th June 2017. The Complainant was subsequently awarded a full-time contract by the Respondent as a CE Supervisor with a commencement date of 1st December 2017. There was no break in the Complainant’s employment from 8th May 2017 to the date of her dismissal on 30th April 2018.

At the time of her dismissal the Complainant was being paid €708 per week.

The Complainant commenced employment on 8th May 2017 in the position of Temporary Supervisor on a short-term contract which was due to end on 16th June 2017. The Complainant was subsequently awarded a full-time contract by the Respondent as a CE Supervisor with a commencement date of 1st December 2017. There was no break in the Complainant’s employment from 8th May 2017 to the date of her dismissal on 30th April 2018.

On 7th February 2018 the Complainant received an email from the Chairman of the Board informing her that he (the Chairman) had been informed that she (the Complainant) had been trying to contact him in relation to a meeting between the two of them plus another board member.

By email dated the same day the Complainant thanked the Chairman for his email and informed him that she could meet at any time the following week. This email contained four pages from the Complainant outlining her experience since she started in the organisation some 8 months ago. The Complainant also pointed out that she had seen a doctor who had diagnosed that she was suffering from stress and anxiety.

By way of reply to the Complainant the Chairman (by email) thanked her for her email and that due to the many issues raised he proposed to refer her email to some board members for their views. This email then informed the Complainant that contact would be made with her when the board had made a decision on how to proceed.

The meeting with two members of the board took place on 13/02/2018, at this meeting the Complainant handed over a file with the relevant documents regarding issues in the office.

On 23/02/2018 the Complainant sent an email to the Board enquiring if there was any feedback from the meeting of 13/02/2018. The Complainant had to attend a supervision meeting that day and wanted to know if there were any developments in relation to the concerns she had raised.

On Monday 5th March the Chairman of the board sent an email to the Complainant thanking her for meeting with himself and one other Board member. This email contained a reply to each of the concerns raised by the Complainant in relation to herself, it did not however contain any reply to the concerns raised in relation to other members of staff. This email also informed the Complainant about an Organisational Review that would be conducted by an independent person and that she would be contacted, with other staff members, regarding staff member participation in the review.

The Complainant replied to this email on 14/03/2018 and noted that the email from the chairman did not specifically address the incident between herself and her manager when the manager allegedly accused the complainant of insubordination and “dragging the project through the gutter”. The Complainant then listed a number of items that had not been addressed.

The Chairperson replied to this email the same day. In relation to the issues not addressed in his email dated 14/03/2018 he informed the Complainant that he would have to discuss these items with the board and as some of the Board are currently away it would be the following week before this could happen.

On 14/03/2018 the Complainant by email thanked the Chairman for his quick reply and wished him a Happy St Patrick’s Day.

On 09/04/2018 the Chairman sent an email to the Complainant thanking her for her email dated 14/03/2018 and informed her that he had spoken to the manager about the comments made to the Complainant on 06/02/2018 and that it was his understanding that the manager had apologised and also felt it was appropriate that he do so. The email also mentioned the ongoing Organisational Review Process and how we can look forward to the engagement of staff and the board in the review process and how we look forward to working together to support and develop the work of the organisation.

The Complainant did not reply to this email.

On 18/04/2018 the Complainant sent an email to the Chairperson and one other board member – it was in this email that the Complainant made her feelings and opinions of the Manager and the Board known….

The Complainant alleges that she did not receive a reply to her email, the response of the Board was to terminate her employment without any warning.

In her papers to the WRC the Complainant notes the following:

“I did not get an email reply on the above email; the response of the Board was to terminate my employment without any warning. I was fired at 4.30pm on Monday, 23/04/2018 by two Board members. They provided me with a Termination of Employment Letter, stating the date of termination is 30th April and they will pay me one week’s notice together with my holiday entitlement of eight days”.

The Complainant was initially employed by the Respondent as a Temporary Supervisor on a short – term contract which commenced on 8th May 2017 and was due to end on 16th June 2017.

The Complainant was subsequently awarded a full-time contract by the Respondent as a CE Supervisor with a commencement date of 1st December 2017.

In or around 7th February 2018, the Complainant outlined some issues to the Respondent. The Respondent’s Board met with the Complainant to address these matters. From the Respondent’s view, the meeting went well.

During an independent organisation review interview, the Complainant sought to raise the same matters with the person undertaking the review. The Complainant was informed by the reviewer that it was not within her remit to deal with these matters, such matters being ones for the Respondent’s Board to whose attention the Complainant had already brought to them.

By email dated 18/04/2018, the Complainant informed the Respondent that she had “no confidencein the Board” and that “x (name redacted) is not competent to be the manager of the organisation (name redacted)”. The Complainant then went onto say “due to my personal financial affairs I have no option to stay in the organisation (name redacted) until I find alternative employment …….. Please note that if I find alternative employment, I will give the organisation (name redacted) 1 weeks’ notice. No further communication about this issue is needed”.

A fundamental principle of any employment relationship is trust between an employer and employee. It is clear from the email of 18th April 2018 that trust did not exist. Accordingly, the Respondent informed the Complainant on 23rd April 2018 of its decision to terminate the Complainant’s employment.

In the Respondent’s view, its decision to terminate the Complainant’s employment was appropriate and justified in circumstances where the Complainant sought to undermine management and the Complainant effectively refused to engage with the Respondent.

In light of the above, the Respondent denies the Complainant’s complaint regarding her alleged unfair dismissal.

It was noted by the Respondent that the Complainant secured alternative employment on 2nd July 2018.

It is obvious that the relationship between the Complainant and her manager was not a good one and this reflects on both.

The Complainant may well have had genuine grievances at work and processed these through to the Chairman of the Board.

From reading the exchange of emails between the Complainant and the Chairman I have taken the view that progress in addressing the grievance was being made although probably not at the speed the Complainant would have liked. It should be noted that with each email sent by the Complainant a reply was sent by the Chairman in a timely fashion.

The email from the Complainant to the Chairman dated the 18th April is paramount in making a recommendation in this case.

In this email the Complainant has stated that she has no confidence in the Board, she has voiced an opinion that her manager is not competent to be the manager of the organisation and then goes onto state.,

“Due to my personal financial affairs I have no option to stay in (name of organisation redacted) until I find alternative employment”.

Further in this email she states that the manager “owns” the board.

In the email she also states that “no further communication about this issue is needed”.

This email in effect made it impossible for the Complainant to remain in the organisation.

I believe the Respondent’s board took the only course of action open to them and dismissed the Complainant.

I have given this matter much consideration and find that the complaint is not well founded and therefore fails. The Complainant was not unfairly dismissed.

As outlined above.

Unfair Dismissal.