Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Senior Occupational Therapist

A Health Service Provider

Representatives

Forsa Trade Union

 HSE Corporate Employment Relations

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 - 00002755

12/06/2024

This dispute concerns the delay in processing a complaint brought by the Worker under the Employer’s Dignity at Work policy.

The Worker commenced work with the Employer in October 2016, as a Senior Occupational Therapist in a division which deals with mental health and well-being of young people.

On 19 July 2021 she raised a complaint under the Employer’s Dignity at Work policy (the Policy) in respect of a medical practitioner who worked in the same division as she did.

In accordance with the Policy her complaint was screened by Employer HR, on 17 September 2021, and it was decided that her complaint met the threshold to justify an investigation.

In March 2022 she told her Employer that she did not wish to engage in Mediation because she did not believe that it would help. She instead waited for the investigation to commence in respect of her Dignity at Work complaint.

However, no investigation took place. Her work conditions deteriorated which caused her health to worsen. She moved job posts but still there was no progress made on her investigation.

Then, three years after her complaint was brought, her trade union inquired about the status of her investigation. It was then that the Worker found out that the paperwork to allow her complaint proceed to an investigation was never completed by the Employer. All this time she had been waiting to a process that was never going to happen because the paperwork had been left in a drawer and not acted upon. The immense disrespect of this compounded the original complaint and had an adverse impact to her health and well-being.

Due to work stress the Complainant resigned her post on 16 January 2024. She hopes to be able to return to work once this dispute is concluded.

The Employer accepts that following a successful screening outcome under the Employer’s Dignity at Work Policy,  the forms were found to be not completed to the required satisfaction of the National Investigations Unit of the Employer and were returned to the Employer to amend.  It is conceded that no one from Employer management thereafter amended the forms or sent them back to NUI for the investigation to proceed.

The Employer concedes that the complaint was never sent to NUI and that the Worker’s complaint was delayed and not investigated.

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

I note that the Employer concedes that there was a delay in processing the Dignity at Work complaint that was lodged by the Complainant on 16 July 2021.

I am satisfied that this resulted in the Worker’s Dignity at Work complaint not proceeding to an investigation. I am satisfied that this was in breach of the Employer’s Dignity at Work policy.

When a Worker raises a complaint under an Employer’s Dignity at Work policy it is reasonable to expect that their complaint will be investigated and investigated within a reasonable time frame.  To do otherwise is not only is a breach of the policy but it also compounds the sense that a Worker is not respected or valued by their Employer. In my view the present Worker had every reason to feel that,  given what happened. But in this case it was not merely a delay, her complaint was not investigated at all.

I accept the Worker was left in a very challenging work environment with a person who she had complained about and she felt that she had to leave her post. I note too that by the time that it was discovered that the forms had not been sent to the NIU, the person against whom her complaint was made, had retired.

I am satisfied that this complaint is well founded

I consider that the appropriate level of compensation in this dispute is the sum of €8000.00. I consider that not only was the investigation delayed, it was never dealt with. I accept that this must all have been very difficult for the Complainant. I am satisfied that she moved post and that this also proved to be difficult.

I do not accept the Employers defence that underfunding and understaffing was the reason why her complaint was not investigated. The real reason is that her complaint was left in a drawer and ignored and that is inexcusable. Furthermore,  accountability for this only emerged after the Worker issued a WRC IR dispute.  

I am satisfied that the repercussions to the Worker were significant and the reasons given by the Employer for their failure to investigate her complaint are not adequate. The level of award reflects this finding.

Complaint under Dignity at Work Policy not acted upon