Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Worker

An Employer

Representatives

Niamh Creed

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

03/09/2021

The employer provides emergency accommodation services, and the worker was part of the housekeeping team until she resigned to take up a new position in March 2022.

The worker submitted that she was bullied and harassed and that when she pursued a complainant it was not dealt with.  She clarified that she felt that it was not dealt with in an effective manner.

The worker submitted that the bullying was conducted primarily by one individual and that the individual was not supposed to work on the same shift as she was.

The worker submitted that matters became so difficult that she had to leave and find another position

The employer submitted that it addressed the complaints that the worker had regarding its bullying and harassment procedures and that the person accused of bullying had been dealt with.  The respondent also submitted that it had changed its scheduling to enable to worker to work a different shift pattern to the person accused.

The employer submitted that the worker came to work early to meet colleagues and to have a cigarette and ran into the accused bully on a number of occasions but that it was not responsible as the worker came in before her shift started.

The employer noted that it had acted appropriately at all times but that arising from this incident it had lost three good staff members in that the worker, the accused and another person involved with the bullying complaint had all left its employment.

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

Arising from the evidence of both parties, it became apparent that the is a lack of clarity as to what constitutes a complaint under the bullying and harassment procedures.  It also became apparent that the difference between an informal and a formal complaint needs to be defined in more straightforward terms.

It also became apparent that the ‘Concerns Reporting Form’ contained in the employee handbook is not flagged in the bullying and harassment policy.

The worker was not satisfied with the steps the employer took arising from the disciplinary action taken in relation to this matter.  It appears that the worker would have only been satisfied with the exclusion of the alleged bully from the workplace.  She sought and received an apology in writing, but this did not appear to go far enough for the worker.

The worker referred to a number of incidents but only made a complaint regarding one incident and did not appear to pursue matters thereafter.

I note that none of the parties to these complaints are still employees of the company.

Having considered all the written and oral submissions in relation to this case, I make the following recommendations:

I recommend that the respondent tie in the written complaint form provided in its handbook with the bullying and harassment procedures.

I recommend that the bullying and harassment procedures be drafted with greater detail as to the process to be followed in relation to taking a complaint and outlining what a complainant can expect from the procedures.

I recommend that procedures for both informal and formal complaints be spelled out in the policy and that the policy, together with the handbook should be made available again to all staff.

IR dispute – bullying and harassment complaint – procedures should be redrafted