ADJ-00034814

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

 An Employee

A Nursing Home

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00045919-001

01/09/2021

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

CA-00045919-002

01/09/2021

The hearing was conducted remotely 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 Employee filed her complaint with the Workplace Relations Commission on 1 September 2021 as against her Employer. 

The Employer consented to hearing of the Industrial Relations dispute on 26 September 2021. 

The Employee attended the hearing with her sister. A Director of the Employer attended.

Correspondence was exchanged between the parties and additional time was given at hearing to allow parties to review additional correspondence.

The Employee set out detailed submissions which were most helpful.

During the hearing the Employee accepted the Employer followed the internal procedure for investigating a formal grievance but there were two issues which were in dispute; the first issue was in relation to the timeline of the investigation and the second was in relation to communication around the investigation.

The Employee submitted that the Employer advised that the investigation would be completed within the week. In relation to the lack of communication the Complainant was left working with the person she complained of and felt she did not know what was happening. 

The Employee submitted that she raised complaints of bullying against a colleague with her Line Manager who encouraged her at a sit down meeting on to raise a formal grievance in writing. The Employee duly did so and by letter dated 11 March 2021 she detailed her complaint.

The Employee was provided with Terms of Reference by her Employer and an investigation was initiated.

The Employee confirmed she met with the Employer on 21 April 2021 who advised her of the outcome of the investigation which was found in favour of her complaints. At that meeting she tendered her resignation and was asked to “sleep on it“ by the Employer. The Employee provided a written resignation on 24 April 2021 to her Employer. The Employee was hospitalised with health issues and did not receive the investigation report until June 2021.

The Employee confirmed she did not appeal the decision as she had resigned before she received the written report.

The Employer set out a timeline of steps taken in the investigation of the compliant by the Employee.

In response to the complaints of failure to adhere to the timeline, the Employer referred to the Terms of Reference presented to the Employee at the outset of the investigation. An investigation was carried out with the Employer carrying out all necessary steps of the investigation. Time was required to type up the minutes, interview witnesses and draft the report and this was against a background of Covid19 pandemic in a nursing home.

In response to the lack of communication, the Employer submitted that he was always available to the Employee, and this is evident from the correspondence and conversations between the parties.

The Employee’s hospital expenses were discharged by the Employer.

The Employee resigned before the Employer had an opportunity to complete the investigation process by providing her with a copy of the report as he had only met with her in person and advised her of the outcome orally. The Employer confirmed that the Employee did not appeal the outcome of the investigation and an appeal was provide for in the internal Grievance Policy.

CA-00045919-001 – Bullying and Harassment and CA-00045919-002 – Constructive Dismissal

Having carefully listen to the parties, it is of note that the Employee decided not to appeal the findings of the internal grievance investigation conducted by the Employer. Therefore, all internal procedures were not utilised by the Employee.

Consequently, I have jurisdiction under the Industrial Relations Act 1969 to decide on this claim. This was set out by the Labour Court in Gregory Geoghegan t/a TAPS & A Worker, INT1014 where an Adjudication Officer is precluded from hearing a dispute where internal procedures have not been exhausted.

CA-00045919-001 – Bullying and Harassment

I recommend that the claim fails.

CA-00045919-002 – Constructive Dismissal

I find that the Employee was not unfairly dismissed.

Industrial Relations – Grievance – Failure to exhaust all internal procedures