Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

An Employee

 A Partnership

Representatives

 Self - Represented

 The HR Suite

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

14/05/2021

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

14/05/2021

The Employee filed her complaint with the Workplace Relations Commission on 14 May 2021 as against her Employer.

The Employer consented to hearing of the Industrial Relations dispute on 15 June 2021.

The hearing was conducted remotely hearing in accordance with the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and Statutory Instrument 359/2020 which designates the Workplace Relations Commission as a body empowered to hold remote hearings.

The CEO and a Board Director, who was not a party to the grievance investigation, attended the hearing. Neither of the parties involved in the grievance investigation, namely, the Chairperson of the Board or the HR Manager, attended the hearing.   

– Bullying and Harassment Procedures

The Employee did not set out any grounds for her dispute around the Bullying and Harassment Procedures at the hearing or in her written submission. When asked at the hearing as to the details of her dispute she said she received advice and she “went with that” .

 – Trade Dispute

The Employee sent a grievance to the CEO of the Employer to 18 January 2021. She raised issues in relation to the composition of the panel in her interview of December 2020, her scoring sheet, equal opportunity and relied on the 10 positions she applied for with her Employer but was unsuccessful in all applications as the basis for her complaint.

On the same date the CEO acknowledged receipt of the grievance letter by email and noted it contained a grievance against him and replied noting; “this matter will be dealt with by the [x] Chairperson pursuant to the [x] grievance procedure.”

On 25 January 2021 , the CEO wrote to the Employee in a detailed response entitled “Re: Grievance – Your Correspondence of January 18th, 2021”

On 26 January 2021, the Chair of the Board wrote to the Employee acknowledging the grievance and advising of the appointment of a Board member with HR experience to carry out the investigation.

On 5 February 2021 she was invited to an Investigation Meeting by a Board Member who signed the letter as a HR Manager and Member of an Employer Representative Body.

The Employee was met via Zoom with the Board Member on 16 February 2021.

The CEO was met on 24 February 2021.

A preliminary report issued on 2 March 2021 which was sent to the Employee and CEO for response.

An investigation report, dated 8 March 2021, issued to the Employee.

The Chair wrote to the Employee on 10 March 2021 via email stating that if the Employee wished to appeal she must revert in writing by 5pm on 12 March 2021 setting out her grounds for appeal.

On 12 March 2021 at 9.53am the Employee emailed the Chair seeking clarification as to what is the appeals procedure and who the appeal should be directed to?

By email reply on the same date at 11.54am the Chair wrote that the she should outline the grounds to him in writing by 5pm that day and it “will be considered accordingly.” The Chair sent a further email at 1.59pm referring to his letter of 10 March 2021 and requesting that she outline her appeal grounds in writing by 5pm that day.

A letter , dated 15 March 2021, was received by the Employee from the Chair; “ I would like to confirm that on receipt of your appeal grounds I will accordingly appoint the appreciate person to hear your appeal. As you will appreciate , I do not yet know if you are going to avail of your right to appeal so I would appreciate if you can revert by close of business today, Monday at 5pm to confirm your appeals grounds.” The Chair further detailed the appeal will be dealt with in accordance with “rules of natural justice , all SKDP  policies and procedures and custom and practice.”

By email 19 March 2021 at 10.30am the Employee wrote to the Chair again requesting details of the appeals procedure as, “I cannot make an informed decision on the grounds of appeal”. She asks; “Why are you not giving this information on the Grievance Appeals procedure in writing in order for me to avail of it. How independent will the Appeals procedure be?”

The Employee further emailed the Chair on 30 March 2021 at 3.30pm stating that she did not see the letter he emailed her at 10.27pm the night before re the closing of the investigation. She continues in the email to complain that she had not received the Appeal Policy to date.

On 2 April 2021, the Chair wrote via email to the Employee stating that he gave her a clear deadline to submit her grounds for appeal, but she failed to do so. He advised her the he had taken advice and the “I am advised that as the deadline has passed, and no appeal has been submitted, the matter is now closed, and the grievance investigative process is concluded.”

 – Bullying and Harassment Procedures

The Employer denied any allegation under this head of dispute as there was no record of any issue around bullying and/or harassment procedures from the Employee to the Employer.  

 – Trade Dispute

The timeline of the investigation was similar to that outlined by the Employee. It was noted that the investigator did not find any evidence to support any “inaccuracy in the recruitment and selection process” for the role.

Additional time was given to the Employee to submit her appeal and when nothing had been received by 2 April 2021 the Chair wrote to the Employee advising the matter had been closed.  

 – Bullying and Harassment Procedures

I find that the Employee did not put forward any grounds of dispute in relation to the Employer’s Bullying and Harassment Procedures.

 – Trade Dispute

There are two key elements to this dispute, namely; the Employer’s Grievance Procedure and the appeal process.

Having carefully reviewed the Grievance Procedure , it does not provide any details on the appeal procedure. This notable absence of procedure was the basis on which the Employee sought repeated clarification from the Chair in her correspondence between 10 March – 2 April 2021. It appears that due to the absence of this detail led to a breakdown between the parties in progressing the appeals.

The second element is around the appeals process. It was reasonably for the Employee to seek clarity as around who was going to conduct the appeal and the procedure it would follow in advance of setting out her grounds for appeal.

In relation to the time line of two days between the initial letter from the Chair of 10 March 2021 and the deadline of 12 March 2021 for the submission in writing of her grounds of appeal was unreasonably. It is noted that there were extensions of time given but this was not clear from the correspondence until the letter of 2 April 2021 when it was deemed too late for the Employee to appeal.

 – Bullying and Harassment Procedures

On the basis the Employee did not put forward any details of dispute around the Employer’s Bullying and Harassment Procedures, I am not making any recommendation in relation to this dispute.

 – Trade Dispute Investigated

Having carefully considered the parties submissions and in particular, the grievance investigation and appeal in light of the Employer’s Grievance Policy, following is recommended:

(a)    The Employer to review and update its Grievance Procedure to include the procedure around appeals having regard to S.I. No. 146/2000 - Industrial Relations Act, 1990 (Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures) (Declaration) Order, 2000. It is noted that a 2021 version of the Grievance Procedure was furnished after the hearing, but this does not detail the procedure around the appeal process or time lines for conducting the entire grievance process which ought to be included. This review is to be concluded with a period of four weeks from the date of this Recommendation.

(b)    The Employer is to provide a copy of the updated Grievance Procedure to the Employee along with an offer to conduct a fresh and independent appeal. If the Employee wishes to appeal the outcome of the Grievance Investigation Report of 8 March 2021, both the Employer and the Employee must agree on an entirely independent third party to carry out the appeal.

Industrial Relations – Bullying and Harassment – Dispute- Grievance Procedure – Appeal