Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Manager

An Adventure Centre

Representatives

N/A

N/A

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00030371-001

19/08/2019

The complainant was employed by the respondent on a seasonal basis for 14 years. He claimed that he had no alternative but to resign from his employment on 12th August 2019 following a sustained campaign of bullying against him by the owner of the company.

The complainant was employed by the respondent on a seasonal basis for 14 years. Following the resumption of his employment in April 2018, he had ongoing difficulties with the owner of the company, Mr A. While he had a number of verbal altercations with Mr A, the first physical altercation was on 19th July 2019 when he claimed that Mr A poked him aggressively with force on the shoulder. As a result, he felt that he could no longer work for the respondent and went to find Mr B to give him his resignation. He then encountered Mr A once again and a further verbal altercation ensued. He was subsequently telephoned by the Managing Director, Mr C, Mr A’s son, later that evening and was informed that he was suspended from work pending an investigation.

The complainant co-operated fully with the investigation but found that the subsequent report was very one sided and noted that there was no reference to the physical altercation. He subsequently attended a disciplinary meeting on 6th August further to which he was informed by Mr D that no action would be taken against him. On his return to work on 8th August however, the complainant was called to a meeting with Mr C and was informed that he would be issued with a final written warning, as a result of the altercation with Mr A on 19th July, which he considered to be very unfair.

Further to this, he had a subsequent verbal altercation with Mr A on 12th August where he was once again belittled in front of other work colleagues about his work performance. As a result of this disagreement, he became very concerned that such bullying behaviour would not cease and considered that he had no option but to resign from his employment given the damaging effects that Mr A’s actions were having on his mental well-being.

The complainant also highlighted that the respondent had no policy on implementing the Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work.

Despite being informed in writing of the time and date of the hearing, the respondent did not attend to give evidence.

In the absence of any evidence from the respondent, I find that the complainant was subjected to a sustained campaign of bullying by Mr A which resulted in him having no alternative but to terminate his employment. I note also that there was no bullying and harassment policy implemented by the respondent and that the complainant had no means of highlighting the negative effects that Mr A’s behaviour had on his mental health.

I recommend that the respondent pay the complainant €7,500 in compensation for the bullying that he was subjected to.