The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has awarded a complainant €329,000 for unfair dismissal, the largest compensation payment it has ever awarded, and more than double the previous record award.
A sales executive won his case against his former employer, a software company, after the arbitration body found no formal warning had been issued to the individual, who was accused of bullying, and that the grounds for his dismissal were unclear.
The behaviour in question had taken place during Ramadan, which the claimant was observing, and comments by the WRC adjudicator suggested that a reasonable employer would have tried to understand if the employee's observance of Ramadan was causing difficulty for him.
The sacked employee said the disciplinary process failed to take into account his relationship with one of the two complainants, who was his line manager, and that "Robust and coarse language was part of the workplace culture."
Among other points relating to the investigation into his behaviour and its findings, the man said the bullying allegations were "vague and implausible as examples of bullying and harassment" and that a decision about his dismissal "had been made well in advance of his ultimate dismissal."
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On the other end, the man's former employer said messages sent by the man on the workplace messaging platform Slack were "frequently problematic" and required intervention by management on several occasions in the months before his dismissal.
Two formal complaints were made against the man in May and June 2019 before his employment was terminated in September 2019, and his appeal was dismissed the following February.
The employer said it sought first to deal with the issue on an informal basis, with the employee apologising for his "too direct and probably rude" language on 15 May, but that his "inappropriate and unacceptable language and behaviours only worsened over time," with the formal complaints following on 23 May and 3 June.
The employee was suspended on 6 June before the investigation was ordered and two separate reports responding to both bullying claims were produced, and the company said it provided the man with all relevant information and allowed him to state his case in response.
He was further allowed to comment on the initial draft of the investigation before it was finalised and sent to a company vice-president, who said the allegations should be considered further under the company's disciplinary procedure.
At a meeting on 6 September, the fired employee told the company "that he was frustrated by errors in account and lead allocation which aggravated the circumstances in which the behaviour occurred" and acknowledged that his comments "merited discipline" while denying that they "constituted bullying and harassment."
The company said the former employee recalled "threatening" WhatsApp voice messages he sent to his line manager.
The company VP of sales who chaired the disciplinary meeting said "there was repeated intimidating, manipulative, and undermining behaviour towards his colleague" that "amounted to very serious misconduct," concluding the meeting by dismissing the man with notice.
The WRC adjudicator found that a two-page email sent following a meeting in early May 2019 did not represent a warning in line with the company's own disciplinary procedures and that no reference was made to any alleged breach of its bullying and harassment policy.
"While the complainant did engage in some inappropriate behaviours in his interactions with his two colleagues who made a complaint about him, these fell a long way short of warranting his dismissal in the circumstances," they wrote, adding that the comments made in June 2019 that led to his suspension were made during Ramadan.
"Any reasonable employer would have tried to understand in the first instance if the employee’s observance of Ramadan was causing a difficulty for him and would certainly not have made a decision to dismiss an employee on the basis of his conduct over a period of less than a month, from 7 May to 6 June, especially when such behaviours were largely similar to those that had not even justified a formal verbal warning less than one month beforehand."
The award of €329,199 equated to 75% of the man's overall financial loss, or around 18 months' salary.
"This is a timely reminder for employers to ensure they have fair and consistent disciplinary and grievance procedures in place," said Moira Grassick, COO of employment law experts Peninsula Ireland.
"An employer may find that an employee may raise a grievance during the course of an investigation or disciplinary process, either about the process itself or about some other related or unrelated matter.
"The first step in this scenario is for employers to consult their grievance and disciplinary procedures for guidance on how to handle this matter, as well as to determine which policies and procedures are most appropriate in this situation.
"Under employment law, all employees must receive and sign off on the company's disciplinary and grievance procedure within 28 days of beginning work.
"Employers can eliminate ambiguity and reduce the risk of unfair dismissal claims by doing this and implementing a formal procedure. In addition, employers must adhere to natural justice principles during a disciplinary process."
(Pic: Getty Images)
