ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00019321
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Transport Manager | A Service provider |
Representatives | JW O'Donovan Solicitors |
|
Dispute:
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-00025189-001 | 22/01/2019 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 27/09/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: James Kelly
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969 following the referral of the dispute to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the dispute.
Summary of Worker’s Case:
The Worker claims that he raised a grievance with his employer in relation to a senior member of staff in line with stage one of the company’s grievance procedure. This grievance was in relation to being intimidated and ignored. He said that the Employer has not dealt with his grievance and has not advanced it any further. The Worker said he believes it is because the grievance is against a senior member within the organisation. He said that in line with stage 5 of the Employer’s grievance procedure he has referred the matter to the Workplace Relations Commission for a Recommendation. |
Summary of Employer’s Case:
The Employer said that it is aware that the Complainant has a number of issues in relation to his work and has tried on occasion to address these with him. However, without satisfaction and closure. The Employer said that these issues were raised verbally, and it points to its internal grievance procedure which at stage two states that the grievance must be made in writing. Accordingly, it said that the Worker has not gone through its own internal grievance procedure and therefore has not exhausted the Company’s internal grievance procedures in relation to this dispute. |
Findings and Recommendation:
Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to this matter. It was not in dispute between the parties that the Employer has established internal mechanisms for addressing grievances. The Worker did not dispute the fact that he has not exhausted these internal grievance procedures prior to the referral of the present dispute to the Workplace Relations Commission and claims that this is because his complaint was largely ignored heretofore. The Employer said that it has not received a grievance to set in motion the grievance procedure. It is well established by the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court that they do not intervene in a dispute under Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 until all internal grievance procedures have been fully exhausted. This has clearly not happened in the circumstances of the present dispute. Accordingly, I recommend that the Complainant exhausts all internal dispute resolution mechanisms for addressing his grievances before considering the further referral of this matter to the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969. I further recommend that any investigation is carried out by an external investigator due to the sensitive nature of the matter. I would recommend that the time limits set out in the internal grievance procedures for conducting the investigation into the grievance are observed to prevent any further undue delay. |
Dated: 7th October 2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: James Kelly
Key Words:
Industrial Relations Act - internal grievance - exhausts all internal dispute resolution mechanisms |