Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

Deli assistant

Café and Delicatessen

Representatives

Self- represented 

 HR Advisor and Café Owner.

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

IR - SC - 00000743

09/10/2022

The worker has submitted a dispute in which she contends that she had no option but to resign owing to the bullying and demeaning behaviour of the employer towards her.

She worked as a deli assistant with the employer from 23/5/2022 – 20/9/2022.

She worked 32 hours a week and her weekly salary was €370.

The worker presented a list of interactions with the employer which she believes were designed to humiliate her.

In May 2022 in front of colleagues, the owner threw a €20 note at  the worker and stated this is what you are doing when you waste food. The worker was very upset at this behaviour. The employer constantly criticised the worker. She set impossible timelines within which tasks could not be completed.

In July 2022, she accused the worker and her colleagues of taking money from the till and cheating in the time clock card.

In terms of grievance Procedures , the worker never had access to policies.

She accepts that the contract dated 23/5/22 contained the requirement to use the Grievance Procedure in the event of issues arising between herself and her employer.

She was refused leave in September 22. The employer made no effort to accommodate the worker.

She worked in the industry for 10 years and never experienced anything like the behaviour meted out by the employer to her. She states she never signed a contract which had a staff handbook attached. She was never provided with a hard  copy of the staff handbook. She states that she did not activate the Grievance Procedure because she was afraid that  she would lose her job.

On 20 September  the worker told the employer that she planned to go to college. The employer stated that she would reduce her hours.

The employer’s feedback was destructive. The worker frequently went home from work in a distressed state. She sought counselling to deal with the matter.

She asks the adjudicator to accept that she had to resign.

The employer refutes the allegations in their entirety .

The employer denies that she spoke rudely or in any negative way to the worker.

The employer submitted a copy of a contract, signed by the worker on 23/5/2022, which expressly provides for the use of a grievance procedure where difficulties in the workplace arise.

The employer believes that there was positive working relationship between them. The employer would have liked to have been presented with the option of mediation.

The employer stated that the worker made no case to her about their working relationship. She states that the worker’s resignation was not justified in these circumstances. The worker has failed to use the grievance procedure and has failed to give the employer the option of resolving the matter prior to the submission of this dispute to the WRC.

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

I find that the employer was given no opportunity either informally or formally  consider the worker’s grievances prior to their submission to the WRC.

The adjudicator in ADJ 00018052 observed as follows:

“I am also well satisfied that it is well established by   the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court that they do not intervene in a dispute under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 until all internal grievance procedures have been fully exhausted. This has clearly not happened in the circumstances of the present dispute”.

The adjudicator found she had no jurisdiction to hear the case.

While I can recommend that the employer gives greater prominence to all policies on a notice board, I am unable to make a finding in the context of the evidence presented at the hearing,  and in the context of  the signed contract that would uphold the worker’s complaints concerning the employer’s behaviour towards her or uphold her contention that her resignation was justified.

Failure to use the Grievance Procedure.