LCR22801

1.Redress Sought.

BACKGROUND:

2.The Worker referred this case to the Labour Court on 23 May 2023 in accordance with Section 20 (1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969, and agreed to be bound by the Court’s Recommendation. A Labour Court hearing took place on 27 July 2023.

RECOMMENDATION:

The dispute before the Court has a complex history which relates to a worker and ongoing separate disciplinary and grievances processes.

The worker was suspended on full pay in May 2022 pending an investigation into a disciplinary matter. The outcome of that process was that he was issued with a sanction under the disciplinary procedure which is now under appeal. He remains on suspension. The worker seeks that the Court recommend that he is reinstated to his position with immediate effect, as he says that the entirety of his suspension is incapable of justification. He further seeks that the ongoing disciplinary process be set aside due to a fundamentally flawed process, or in the alternative that a de novo investigation be instigated.

Finally, and separate to the above, the worker lodged a formal grievance against another colleague in July 2022, which has not been investigated. The worker seeks that the Court recommends that this be actioned by the employer in line with the grievance procedure.

The employer says that the matters before the Court are the subject of internal processes which have not yet concluded, and that as a result it is premature for the Court to investigate those matters. It submits that the disciplinary appeal mechanism available to the worker will take account of any concerns that he has raised about the investigation and disciplinary process, and that it has not lifted the worker’s suspension while the appeal process is ongoing because of a duty of care to all employees.

The employer further states that as a publicly funded body it requires confirmation from its funders before it can engage a competent independent person to investigate a grievance complaint or hear a disciplinary appeal. Having secured that funding it wrote to the worker, on the day before the Court hearing, to propose an independent person to hear his grievance, and to hear his appeal of the disciplinary sanction.

The Court was provided with copious amounts of correspondence between the parties in relation to matters arising.

The role of the Court when investigating disputes referred to it under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations is to hear the parties and set out its opinion on how the matter in dispute between the parties can be resolved. It is not its function to insert itself into the midst of internal and ongoing processes that have not yet concluded.

Having regard to all of the circumstances, the Court recommends that the appeal of the disciplinary sanction and the investigation into the worker’s grievance be progressed without further delay.

It was not made clear to the Court why the worker was suspended from his employment in May 2022, or why that suspension is ongoing following the issuing of a disciplinary sanction. The suspension of any worker from his employment is a serious matter, and the Court also recommends that the employer review the necessity for the continuing suspension of the worker with immediate effect.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Katie Connolly
TH	______________________
8 August 2023	Deputy Chairman