Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A retail worker

A retail owner

Representatives

  In person

 Manager

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

17/02/2021

This complaint submitted under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 (as amended) was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 17th February 2021.

By way of a hand written 4-page submission the worker provided a timeline of events leading to her complaint being lodged with the Workplace Relations Commission.

The employer was of the view that the internal procedures had not been exhausted prior to the referral of the complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission.

In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the parties.

On investigation of the matter it would appear that the worker wrote to the employer on 30th July 2020. This letter of complaint contains a summary of the workers history with the company. It contains an accusation of being harassed by the store general manager and how she has tried to resolve things. It then goes onto state that she has tried to resolve matters to no avail and ends with a brief summary of how this has affected her health to the point of her GP has diagnosed her as suffering from “acute stress related”.

The employer replied to this letter on 4th September 2020. In his letter he acknowledges receipt of the workers letter and requests the worker to supply precise details of the actual incidents that have taken place and once received he will examine them to determine the appropriate course of action.

On 2nd February 2021 the worker replied to the employer’s letter of 4th September 2020 and provided detail of a few of the incidents experienced by her from September / October 2017 to July 2019. The worker also informed that she had now given the employer the detail she had provided to the WRC. In this letter the employee has also mentions how this has affected life and family life. The worker finishes the letter by pointing out that her complaints are against the shop General Manager and also against the owner himself.

On 16th March 2021 the owner replied to the workers letter of 02/02/2021.In this letter the owner he notes that the workers complaint is also against him and as such he therefore cannot now conduct any investigation into the complaint. The owner offers to meet the worker with the shop general manager in an attempt to informally address matter and then requests the worker to let him know if she would be willing to participate in any informal efforts to address matters.

On 16th April 2021 the worker replies to the owner’s letter of 16th March 2021. In this letter the worker informs the owner that she sees no benefit in meeting informally to address the matter and then goes onto state that she would be willing to participate in an investigation if such an investigation was conducted by an independent HR Consultant.

The owner replies on 22nd June 2021. The final paragraph of his letter reads as follows:

“In circumstances where you have already referred the matter to the WRC can you please confirm whether or not it is your preference that the WRC deal with all issues, including this new complaint, or whether you wish to have matters dealt with separately”.

This was the end of the communication between the parties.

At the WRC hearing on 9th March 2022 the parties were informed that it is not normal for the WRC to hear any complaint under Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 until such time as the internal procedures in any organisation have been fully exhausted.

I asked would the parties be willing to go through an investigation process with an independent investigator in an attempt to find a solution to this matter. Both agreed that they would, the employer agreed to find such an independent investigator.

It is now my recommendation that this is exactly what both parties should now do.

Industrial Relations Act, 1969.