Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Care Assistant

A Homecare Provider

Representatives

Self-represented

Represented by Management

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

IR - SC - 00003225

01/10/2024

The employer has a contract with the HSE to provide care to people with disabilities and elderly people in their own homes.  They have around 150 employees and they provide 3,300 hours of care to clients every week.  Employees must be trained in accordance with HSE regulations and the employer said that they provide this training to their employees.  They have an agreement with the employees that, if leave the company in the first eight months of their employment, €60 will be deducted from the final weekly pay.

The worker is a Chinese national and, in China, she works as a senior product manager.  She came to Ireland to do further study and she commenced working with the employer on May 27th 2024.  Her contract provides that she is required to work a minimum of two hours per day between Monday and Sunday.  In September 2024, she commenced on a Masters degree and she informed her co-ordinator that she could only work on Sundays.  I understand from the employer’s witnesses that the co-ordinator asked her to work on Saturdays and Sundays, but the outcome of the conversation was that the worker resigned. 

The worker said that, when she started in her job, she “rejected” one client due to her physical and mental health.  Employees providing care to this client were required to change her incontinence pad and the worker was reluctant to do that job.  The worker was required to complete QQI level 5 training in relation to caring for incontinent clients and she was assigned the client that she rejected.  At the conclusion of the training, she scored high marks and she was capable of the considerable skill required for this task.  The worker said that the lady whose pad she was required to change reminded her of her grandmother, and, when the lady wasn’t well, it made her feel sad.  The worker also complained that she got an unreasonable score for some parts of her QQI assessment.

I have listened to the worker’s grievances about her experience of working with this employer and I find that there were external factors, such the fact that she is a relatively recent immigrant and the cultural differences between Ireland and China with regard to employment relationships.  Another factor which I think contributed to the difficulties that the complainant experienced working with the respondent is that she is a qualified professional, and it must have been difficult for her to carry out the responsibilities of a care assistant.  Having said that, the manager who attended the hearing said that the worker was very good at this job.

In terms of my role as the investigator of a dispute under the Industrial Relations Act 1969, I find that the worker was treated fairly by the employer and that no further action is required by either party.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the worker explained to me that, in China, she worked as a senior product manager and that she is currently seeking a job in Ireland in that line of work.  I recommend that she focus her efforts on finding a job that suits her skills and qualifications and I recommend that the employer takes no further action.

Grievance