ADJUDICATION OFFICER Recommendation on dispute under Industrial Relations Act 1969

Investigation Recommendation Reference: IR - SC - 00003617

Parties:

	Worker	Employer
Anonymised Parties	Night Porter	Dublin Hotel

Representatives

Mr Anankoude

Did not attend and not represented

Dispute(s):

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 - 00003617	06/01/2025
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969	IR - SC - 00003618	06/01/2025
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969	IR - SC - 00003619	06/01/2025

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Donal Moore

Date of Hearing: 11/03/2025

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 (as amended) following the referral of the dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any information relevant to the dispute(s).

The attendees were informed of the nature of a complaint under s13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 are voluntary in nature.

Background:

The Worker was employed by the hotel from of April 2024 and dismissed themselves in January 2025 in circumstances where the work and the behaviour of the employer became intolerable to them.

Summary of Workers Case:

Complaint CA-00068448-001

The worker set out bullying and harassment in terms of bullying and harassing text messages sent to her by her manager threatening “serious consequences”. These were brought to eh attention of the Operational Manager of the Hotel who ignored the matter. The Worker felt in those circumstances that she had no other option but to resign as she was fearful as the only female night porter of what the consequences would be for her. This affected her mental health into the following New Year.

Complaint CA-00068448-002

The Worker’s case is she was forced to do the work of the day shift by her manager which was outside her job description. In all of this she was denied access to logins and passwords to perform her role properly. This forced her to request this from other staff which she found humiliating and made her a source of fun for other staff.

Complaint CA-00068448-003

The Worker had a contractual entitlement to a meal and has only received this entitlement twice after raising it with the Operational Manger.

Following her resignation she was contacted by HR to enquire of the reasons when she informed them of the substance of the above complaints who promised to make good on the contractual commitment from that point. HR made no commitment to reimburse her for this loss to date. The Worker puts this at 72 meals missed

These issues have affected the employees mental and physical health.

Summary of Employer’s Case:

The Employer did not attend but did have communications with the Commission and I have therefore concluded that they were properly under notice.

Conclusions:

In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the worker. I have no response from the Employer.

It is clear from the hearing that the Employer has failed to carry out its required functions and has disadvantaged the Worker by not investigating the issues leading to the dispute and attempting to reimburse her for the loss, I note that the Worker had not formally invoked the Grievance procedure, but nonetheless a reasonable employer would have instigated an investigation on learning of the issue.

Recommendation:

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.

I recommend that the Employer compensate the Worker for the unmet harassment complaints by paying compensation of €2000.00 and further compensates the worker for contractual failing to provide meals to an amount of €720.00

I recommend the Employer revisits its policies and procedure in terms of bullying and harassment and grievances and refreshes these to its manager and employees.

I further recommend that the Worker accept this in full and final settlement of the matter.

Dated: 27th of March 2025