Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A worker

An employer

Representatives

  Self.

Peter Dunlea Peninsula

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA – 00065701 - 001

18/11/2023

The Complainant was employed by the Respondent as a Traffic Warden. Employment commenced on 13th March 2023 and ended on 6th October 2023. The Complainant worked 43 hours per week for which he was paid €2,400 per month.

This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 18th November 2023.

In complaints heard under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act the Complainant is referred as a worker and the Respondent is referred to as the employer.

·        The worker is of the belief that he was unfairly dismissed.

·        The probationary period was for 6 months, and the worker had served his probationary period by over one month.

·        The worker commenced employment with the employer on the 13th March 2023.

·        The worker received no contract of employment, no employee handbook, no ID badge to perform hisjob.

·        The worker’s supervisor brought him around Newbridge as part of the training.

·        The worker was told by the supervisor that you can over patrol a town so it is best to go away for a while and return as the trackers which were in the phone where not reliable and he leaves it to the wardens to be responsible, the worker took this advice onboard.

·        The worker completed his probation on the 13th September 2023 with no issues of which he was aware.

·        The worker was covering the Athy beat and the Newbridge beat and was always helpful and available to cover any other beats if someone was sick which he done so.

·        On Tuesday the 3rd of October 2023 a Staff meeting was organised by the old and new Management team at the base in Newbridge, which was the first staff meeting that he, the worker, ever attended since he started working for the employer.

·        On the Agenda to be discussed was the taking of breaks and going off beat, as well as other items of business.

·        The worker understood that because this was a staff meeting, the issues mentioned were for all the staff who were present. an opportunity for staff and management to work better together and to make any necessary changes required by management.

·        As a matter of interest, the Contracts Manager announced at the meeting that he was leaving at the end of October. On the Thursday the 5th October 2023 the worker received a call from his supervisor while he was covering the Kildare beat. He told the worker that he found a post it note to remind him that the worker had to return his contract of employment. The worker informed the Supervisor that he was never given any contract whatsoever. The supervisor said that was no problem that he could back date it.

·        The supervisor asked the worker to come to the office after his shift that day and he would sort it out. The worker said no problem and hung up. The worker would like to state   that he asked for his contract of employment during his probation from his supervisor but was not provided with one. Later that day the worker received another call from his supervisor to tell him not to call into the office, he would deal with it on Monday the 9th October 2023. The worker thought this very strange as this seemed to be an urgent matter to him initially.

·        On Friday the 6th of October the worker was patrolling the Athy beat and received a call from the Contracts Manager who asked the worker to see him in the Newbridge office. The worker asked the Contracts Manager what was this about but received no explanation, the Contracts Manager said he could not discuss this matter on the phone. He said just finish up early and meet him in the Newbridge office at 5.

·        The worker met the Contracts Manager at 5.30 in the Newbridge office and was handed a short service dismissal letter and was told to hand back his printer and phone, the worker did so.

In his own words the worker stated the following:

·        I was given no notice,

·         I had no meetings, no written warnings about my conduct, all I can remember was getting a whats app message to keep a good note on the registration of cars when taking details and I took this on board going forward.

·        I am sure you will understand that I was gob smacked and annoyed as I did not understand what was going on.

·        All I did was follow my supervisor’s instructions and do the best job I could. I could do no more, I liked my job, and I was good at it, and I feel I was unfairly dismissed. I will post on emails to you as proof that I made efforts to try and resolve this situation internally and I hope you will see that I did everything that I could to get reinstated. Let me say at this point that I tried to get this situation solved internally. I got no information from my manager of what to do or where to go, for someone to listen to my valid complaint, he just handed me a dismissal letter and I had to go. It was left up to me to find someone to sort out this injustice. I finally found the headquarters in England and got in contact with the HR Manager who looks after such issues for Ireland and England.

·         I was dismissed on the 6th October 2023 and then I had a zoom call with the HR Manager on the 16th October 2023 and gave her the grounds for my complaint, she said she would investigate the matter and that her decision would be final, and I had no other avenue to appeal. I received her reply on the 9th November 2023 in which found in favour of the company. When I read the outcome I was not satisfied with the decision and I had more questions that I needed to be answered but the only reply I got was to refer to my dismissal letter. The HR Manager was not going to entertain my valid queries, so I was basically left in limbo. I thoroughly believe that this matter was rushed with no proper procedures in place. I had served my probationary period and should have been given fair and proper treatment which did not happen in my case.,

Background

The worker commenced employment on the 13th of March 2023 and his employment was terminated on the 6th of October 2023. 

The complainant began training for the role at the commencement of his employment during the course of which he received two copies of his written statement of terms of employment from his supervisor.

At this point the worker took a copy of the terms of employment, leaving the other at the premises of the employer in Newbridge Co. Kildare. At this point the worker was instructed to return a signed copy of the terms of employment to the respondent which he failed to do. He was later contacted to return the signed copy of terms of employment, but he failed to do so at this time, claiming to have not received it.

During his employment, the employer became aware that the complainant was repeatedly absent from his rostered area of work without permission from his supervisor.

Furthermore, when contacted by the contracts manager regarding his current location, he misled the contracts manager regarding his location.

As a result of these breaches, the decision was made to terminate the complainant’s employment by way of a letter dated 6th October 2023. He was paid one week’s contractual notice at this time.

The worker, disagreeing with the dismissal was granted an appeal hearing by the respondent with the HR manager for the employer. This was conducted by teams meeting on 16th October 2023.

Having considered the evidence, the outcome of the appeal was issued on 31st October 2023 upholding the dismissal of the worker.

Complaints

Unfair Dismissal Claim

The claimant has referred several claims to the Commission for hearing one of which is a claim for Unfair Dismissal, under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 (Act of 1977)

We would refer the commission to section 2 of the Act 1977 wherein it states, “Except in so far as any provision of this Act otherwise provides] This Act shall not apply in relation to any of the following persons: “(a) an employee (other than a person referred to in section 4 of this Act) who is dismissed, who, at the date of his dismissal, had less than one year’s continuous service with the employer.

As such based on the fact that the complainant had less than 7 months service with the respondent, they respectfully submit that you find the claim before you unfounded and find in favour of the respondent.

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

Prior to reaching any conclusion I feel the following comments have to be made:

1.      The representative for the employer has compiled a submission to the WRC. In relation to the dismissal of the worker the submission refers in place to the Unfair Dismissals Act. 1977. The complaint was submitted to the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act.

2.      In relation to the Contracts Manager contacting the worker on 6th October and instructing him to be in the Newbridge Office by 5.00pm and refusing to provide any explanation why he had to be in the office by 5.00pm is very poor management practice. This was the meeting at which the worker was dismissed. In my opinion this was nothing short of an ambush.

3.      The worker commenced employment on 13th March 2023. The probationary period of 6 months expired on 12th September 2023.

4.      Following an appeal hearing with the HR Manager she issued an outcome letter; part of this letter reads as follows:

“Having considered your appeal, reviewed the evidence gathered, I am satisfied that the company’s decision to terminate you within probation has been operated in a fair and just manner”.

The worker had completed his probationary period prior to his dismissal. It is somewhat surprising that the HR Manager has overlooked this fact.

Conclusion.

Having considered all the facts of the case I conclude that the worker was denied his entitlement to natural justice and fair procedures. The worker was unfairly dismissed.

I now recommend that the employer pays the worker the sum of €5,000.00 in compensation for this unfair dismissal.

Such sum should be paid within 42 days from the date of this recommendation.

Section 13 industrial relations act.