LCR22373

1.Treatment of Complainant

BACKGROUND:

2.This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on 15 July 2019 in accordance with Section 20 (1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969. A Labour Court hearing took place on 11 February 2021 in a virtual Court room.

RECOMMENDATION:

The Worker has been employed as a catering assistant at St Joseph’s Home (‘the Home’) in Killorglin since 10 July 2017. She is part of a catering team of six, including the catering manager.

The Worker raised a number of grievances in a letter to Management at the Home dated 19 June 2018. She submits that she did not receive any reply to this letter. A number of incidents are alleged to have occurred subsequently in the workplace which the Worker perceives as bullying and harassment of her by the Director of Nursing and the Acting CNM2.

These events caused the Worker to engage the services of a solicitor who wrote to the Trustees of St Joseph on 9 November 2018 outlining the Worker’s concerns about her working conditions and the behaviour of the Director of Nursing and the Acting CNM2 towards her.

The Worker’s solicitor was furnished, by return, with a copy of the Employer’s Handbook which contains both a Grievance Policy and an Anti-Bullying Policy. The Worker does not appear to have taken any further steps directly with her employer in the intervening period to attempt a resolution of her concerns.

The Home was notified that the Worker had referred the within dispute to the Court but indicated through its solicitors that it would not be attending the hearing.

Recommendation

The Court recommends that the Worker formally invokes the procedures outlined in the Home’s Anti-Bullying Policy. The Court further recommends that Management at the Home take the appropriate steps thereafter to investigate the Worker’s complaint as expeditiously as practicable and in accordance with the Workplace Relations Commission/Health and Safety Authority recently published Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
TH	______________________
1 March 2021	Deputy Chairman