Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Business Development Sales Worker

A Telecommunications Employer

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969

CA-00053273-001

14/10/22

The worker submits that his employment ended unfairly during probation.

The worker submitted that he commenced employment on 22/07/22 and his employment ended on 05/09/22.  The worker submitted that he got through the interviews and left his home country and travelled to Ireland and accepted the position and passed all the relevant training courses successfully.  A short time into his employment an issue arose, and he went to the manager Ms A and suggested that a good business opportunity had arisen but that she responded aggressively and told him not to do that work.  They spoke in a main area and then Ms A said they should speak in a meeting room, and she told him that when she issued him an instruction, he had to obey it and told him not to pursue this business opportunity.  She told him he had to stop the arguments about this matter, and he denied he was arguing and said that he was just clarifying the position.  He said the meeting ended and he thought that was the end of the matter but then Ms B from HR advised that he needed to attend a meeting.  On 01/09/2022 he met with Ms B who advised the worker that Ms A was the manager.  On 05/09/2022 Ms A asked to speak with the worker and Ms B was also present at the meeting and said that after what had happened, they were ending his employment.  They advised that he would be paid to the end of the month and would be allowed to stay in the accommodation until 13/09/22. 

The letter dated 06/09/2022 advised the worker that he had not passed his probationary period and that his employment was terminated, and he would be paid only 1 weeks’ pay in lieu of notice. The employer also advised that as a gesture of goodwill, they would waive any claw back of relocation allowance and would allow him to continue to stay at the B&B until checkout on 13th September 2022.

The worker said he is not working at the moment and that he had suffered much distress trying to secure employment and also accommodation and he had to jump from hostel to hostel and that this caused difficulties with trying to do interviews for another job.  The worker said that he had been told that he would be paid to the end of September but was only paid for 1 week.  The worker said he was not given an opportunity to appeal the decision.

The employer did not attend and advised the WRC that they would not attend.  In a letter to the WRC the employer advised that the worker commenced employment on 22/07/2022 and his employment was subject to a probationary period of 6 months, in accordance with his contract, signed by him on 13/07/2022. They submitted that he was dismissed six weeks after commencing employment and the reason for his dismissal was due to failure to pass probation, which was primarily due to his conduct/behaviour.

They submitted that he was involved in an incident with his manager, and he spoke to her in an aggressive and intimidating manner in front of their entire team.  It was submitted that the matter was investigated by HR, and a witness confirmed the worker’s behaviour was inappropriate and unacceptable and it was determined that the worker could no longer work in the organisation as his manager felt unsafe in dealing with him.  

The worker was dismissed with one weeks’ notice (paid in lieu) in accordance with his contract and the worker was paid a relocation allowance amounting to €7,000 and he signed an agreement stating that if he left or was dismissed within 12 months, he would be required to pay it back. The Company, as a gesture of goodwill, confirmed that it would not seek reimbursement of this money and also allowed him to remain in accommodation paid for by it for almost two weeks after termination of his employment, until Sept 13th.

The employer advised that they would not attend the hearing and noted that any recommendation issued in relation to this matter would not be binding on the Company but wished it to be put on the record that it is the Company’s contention that the worker was dealt with in a fair and reasonable manner.

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

I note the worker commenced employment on 22/07/22 and his employment ended on 05/09/22 during his probationary period.  I note that there was an interaction between the worker and his manager Ms A and she appeared to be unhappy with the conduct of the worker during this interaction.  It was unfortunate that the employer chose to send in a submission and referred to a witness to the event but chose not to attend the hearing.

The worker was paid one weeks pay and the employer did not claw back relocation money and allowed the worker to remain in his accommodation till 13/092022.  I note that the worker was working under probation, but I also note the manner in which dispute was dealt with by the employer.  This caused considerable distress for the worker bearing in mind that he not in his home country, had to leave his accommodation and could not secure accommodation moving from hostel to hostel at a time when accommodation would have been difficult to secure as students were returning to college in the city he was working in.

Due to all the aforementioned circumstances I award the worker €900.

Due to all the aforementioned circumstances, I award the worker €900.

Probationary period.