ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00021782
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | Sales Assistant | Fuel and Retail Outlet |
Representatives | Self-represented | Not represented |
Complaint:
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts | CA-00028675-001 | 27/05/2019 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 30/10/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Gaye Cunningham
Procedure:
In accordance withSection 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969 following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.
Background:
The Complainant contends that he was unfairly dismissed from his employment. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Complainant stated that he was employed by the Respondent from 1 October 2018 until 23 March 2019 when he was dismissed some 8 days before his probation ended. He contends that his dismissal was both substantively and procedurally unfair. He was dismissed on foot of complaints made by fellow employees, which statements he contends were based on hearsay evidence. He was alleged to have called a fellow Romanian employee a ‘gypsy’ and his employment was terminated without due process. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent, having been notified of the time, date and venue of the hearing convened to consider the matter, declined to attend or give evidence. |
Recommendation:
The Complainant’s evidence was that he denied making racist or derogatory remarks about his fellow employees. The Respondent did not attend the hearing to challenge the evidence and I am therefore unable to make findings or conclusions as to the veracity of the allegations against him. I do note however, that the Complainant was dismissed without due process. In circumstances where the Labour Court has found on many occasions that employees must be provided with due process in disciplinary situations, even when they are on probation, I find that the Complainant in this case has been unfairly dismissed. He requested re-instatement, however, in the situation where the employment relationship has most likely irretrievably broken down, I recommend that to mark a closure to this dispute, the Respondent should offer to the Complainant the sum of the equivalent of 4 weeks’ wages as compensation for his unfair dismissal.
Dated: 12th February 2020
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Gaye Cunningham
Key Words:
Unfair dismissal during probation. |