Recommendation
Industrial Relations Act 1969
Investigation Recommendation Reference: IR - SC - 00003776
Parties:
| Worker | Employer |
Anonymised Parties | A Retired Bus Driver | A Bus Company |
Representatives | Represented himself | Michael McGrath, IBEC |
Disputes:
Act | Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Dispute seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 | IR - SC - 00003776 | 07/02/2025 |
Dispute seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 | IR - SC - 00003777 | 07/02/2025 |
Dispute seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 | IR - SC - 00003778 | 07/02/2025 |
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Date of Hearing: 06/06/2025
In accordance with section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 (as amended), these disputes were assigned to me by the Director General. At a hearing on June 6th 2025, I made enquiries and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard and to put forward their positions in relation to the disputes. In accordance with section 8 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990, the parties are not named in this Recommendation, but are referred to as “the worker” and “the employer.”
The worker represented himself and the employer was represented by Mr Michael McGrath of IBEC. Mr McGrath was accompanied by the employer’s area operations manager, the administration manager from the depot at which the worker was based and the employee relations executive.
In addition to the information he provided on his complaint form, on June 10th 2025, four days after the hearing, the worker sent a submission to the WRC, to which he attached a number of documents to support his contention that he was treated unfairly by the employer. I have now considered the submissions provided by the employer and the worker in advance of the hearing, and the additional submission sent by the worker after the hearing.
Summary of the Worker’s Case:
The worker is a bus driver and he commenced working for the employer on August 20th 2019. He retired on December 15th 2024. Two months after his retirement, on February 7th 2025, he submitted these disputes to the WRC. On the form he sent to the WRC, the worker said that he had a good working relationship with his former manager, but not such a good relationship with his new manager, who attended the hearing and who is the depot administration manager. The worker said that his manager expected holiday requests and communications about time off to be made in person and not by email. In the summer of 2023, the worker was unhappy when he was rostered to take 20 days’ holidays he had accumulated. He said that he had nothing planned at the time. He complained that, because there was no electronic back-up of his holiday record, he had no reminder of when he was due back at work after his holidays and, because of confusion, he missed several days. This resulted in a disciplinary sanction. He complained also that he wasn’t able to choose when he took his holidays and that he had to use up his outstanding leave before he retired. |
Summary of the Employer’s Case:
At the hearing, Mr McGrath informed me that, in October 2023, the worker was issued with a written warning for unauthorised absence and poor attendance. On February 27th 2024, he received a second written warning and was suspended for two days because he was absent without permission on August 20th and October 7th and 8th 2023. A final written warning had initially been proposed by the company, but, following representations from the worker’s union, this was reduced to a written warning. Up until the date of his retirement on December 15th 2024, the worker did not appeal the written warning. Mr McGrath said that the worker never raised an issue about discrimination or unfavourable treatment and he did not exhaust the company’s internal grievance procedures to have his concerns addressed. |
Conclusions:
I agree with the employer’s submission that any remaining grievance related to the warnings issued to the worker should have been raised before his employment ended on December 24th 2024. Aside from this, I have considered his argument that he was treated unfairly by his former employer and I find that there is no substance to his claims. |
Recommendation:
Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.
IR-SC-00033776, IR-SC-00033777, IR-SC-00033778 I recommend that the employer takes no further action with regard to these disputes. I recommend that the worker treats these disputes as closed. |
Dated: 09-10-2025
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Key Words:
Failure to use grievance procedures |