Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A General Operative

A Building & Construction Company

Representatives

  Self-Represented

 Did not attend but submitted a detailed written response.

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00047275-001

21/11/2021

The Dispute concerns the alleged Unfair Dismissal of a Construction Worker by a Construction Company. The employment began on the 30th August 2021 and ended on the 29th October 2021.

The rate of pay was stated to be €750 for 39-hour week.

The work began in late August. It was a repurposing of an old abattoir. It was heavy dusty work with a lot of chemical cleaners etc involved. The Worker asked for a proper respirator but was given a fabric face mask instead. Once the abattoir job was finished the Worker moved to a site in Wexford Town. Again, it was very dusty work, and the Worker repeated his request for a proper Respirator.

Two weeks prior to the job finishing the Worker had a verbal exchange with the Company Procurements Manager Ms V regarding the Respirator. (The Worker had developed a bad chest Dust related chest infection by this time.) The Manager had initially agreed to provide the Respirator but changed her mind as the Worker was refusing to wear the fabric masks supplied. A disputed close, involving language, to the conversation was alleged. The Worker had then gone to the Management Office to report what had happened. The foreman was Mr A. who it was alleged was a close personal friend of the Procurement Manager. Two weeks later Mr A told the Worker that work was “drying up” in Wexford and that he, the Worker, had to be let go.

The main employer continued to advertise for staff on Social Media so the work drying up story was clearly false. The Worker alleged that he had been let go because of his exchanged words with Ms V who was a very close friend of Mr A.

No employment procedures were followed, and no explanations offered. Social Welfare queries regarding the matters remained unanswered at the date of the referral -21st of November 2021.

There was no appearance at the Hearing from the Employer. However, on the 29th December 2021 a detailed written Employer submission was received which had been copied to the Worker. It was a lengthy professional document.

The Employer stated that the worker had been a former Restaurant Kitchen porter with no prior Construction experience. He had been taken on, on a purely temporary basis, as an Unskilled Labourer to do basic support tasks on the sites involved. It was soon clear that he was totally unsuited and was in effect a delaying factor for other staff. He was moved from the Farm site to the Wexford Town site, but again other employees complained that he was simply not pulling his weight and was delaying work generally.

It was agreed that he had called to the Site office to complain about Ms V but had been assured that the matter would be dealt with which it was. His request for a Respirator was immediately complied with and were his other PPE requests.

The Wexford Town job had, by late November, progressed to a more completed stage and the need for an unskilled labourer was no longer there. He was let go on this basis. The Employer had; it was stated, advertised at that time for a Skilled Experienced Labourer but this was a role that the Worker here was totally unsuited for.

All Social Welfare queries were answered promptly.

There was absolutely no basis for an Unfair Dismissals claim.

The Worker was in employment for a period of some eight weeks, The Employer was clearly on notification of the Hearing. Regrettably they chose to rely on their submitted written statement.

The Worker gave witness evidence and was closely questioned by the Adjudicator. Reliance was placed during questioning on the Employer written submission. The Worker was not entirely clear on his own stated version of events. It was noted by the Adjudicator that the Worker had returned to Restaurant work following the end of the work in this case.

In the absence of the Employer at the Hearing the Recommendation has to be in the Worker’s favour. However, any award has to be seen in the full context of the case.

Accordingly, a Recommendation for Compensation for Unfair Dismissal of € 750 – one weeks’ pay is made in favour of the Worker.

Industrial Relations Act & Unfair Dismissal.