Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Forklift Driver

A   Manufacturing Company

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint    seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8    of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00010241-001

15/03/2017

Complaint    seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 11    of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973

CA-00010241-002

15/03/2017

The Complainant was dismissed without notice following an incident at work.

The Complainant contends that he was unfairly dismissed following an interaction between him and the HR Manager which occurred in December 2016. He was just completing   his night shift when the Manager approached him when he was checking his phone. Following the interaction, he  clocked out and went home.   Later that   day, he received a text from the General Manager instructing him to attend a   meeting at 4.30pm to address a “serious incident” which occurred that   morning. The Complainant attended the meeting  which lasted a very short time, and resulted in his immediate dismissal.   It is contended that he never heard from the Company again.   It is submitted that no proper investigation was carried out, he had no proper advance knowledge of what was alleged against him and that he did not have a full hearing. It is also submitted that a sanction short of dismissal was not considered by the company, and that other allegations such as not attending a previous meeting and not wearing PPE were unfair and untrue.

The Respondent contends that substantial grounds existed which justified the dismissal of the Complainant. The Company/Union Agreement clearly outlines all policies and procedures in relation to his employment, specifically Sections 9 and 11 covering the Dispute and Grievance Procedure.

On 8 December 2016, the Complainant was requested to but failed to attend a meeting with HR regarding two issues:

1. On 2 December he broke a customer unit valued at €6,000.
2. On  5 December he failed to comply with the company health and safety regulations by not wearing the appropriate high visibility clothing while on site.

When the Complainant failed to attend the meeting, the HR   Manager along with another Manager went to find him.   He was observed lying back on the forklift  on his phone. When queried why he was on his phone, against company rules, he became verbally abusive, jumped off  the forklift and shouted at the HR Manager “Who the f… do you think you are,   telling me what to do?, I don’t give a f… who you are, you won’t come down here telling me what to f…ing do”.  Security was immediately called, but the Complainant left the site   before he arrived. Owing to the seriousness of the threat, the local Garda were notified. On 8 December the Complainant was invited to a disciplinary meeting   and his shop steward was also put on notice of same. He was advised through his representative   that his job was at risk of termination owing to the seriousness of the   complaint. His shop steward was   provided with copies of witness statements and provided with the opportunity to speak directly to the witnesses.  A disciplinary hearing  was conducted and the Complainant confirmed that the incident had occurred  and did not deny the threatening behaviour and abusive language used by him. Following the hearing, it was determined  that the Complainant’s conduct constituted a serious breach of his terms and conditions of employment specifically insubordination or refusal to carry out  a manager’s lawful instruction (Section 9.2 clause 1) and fighting, or assault   of another employee or member of Management..(Section 9.2. clause 5).

The Complainant was dismissed for gross misconduct based on the evidence and seriousness of the incident. A dismissal letter was sent to his home address by registered post.

It is the Respondent’s position that the dismissal of the Complainant was not an unfair dismissal given the conduct of the employee and that he was given a full disciplinary process.

I accept the Complainant’s evidence that he was not  properly notified of the original meeting which he was required to attend regarding breakage of the customer order and non compliance with wearing   PPE.  However, the evidence confirms  that a serious incident occurred in which the Complainant engaged in  threatening and abusive behaviour.  This   was correctly regarded by the Respondent as a direct breach of the Complainant’s terms and conditions of   employment.  I find therefore that the decision to dismiss was reasonable and I do not uphold the Complainant’s complaint that he was unfairly dismissed.

The Complainant was dismissed without notice for gross misconduct and the complaint under CA-00010241-002  also fails.