Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Brendan  Fitzgerald

Weslin Construction

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

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Representatives

Kevin Callan, Callan HR Consultants

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-00069747-001

04/03/2025

The Complainant stated that he commenced his employment as a Site Manager/Carpenter on 4 March 2024 and remained in his employment until the Respondent dismissed him via the Revenue online service on 20 March 2025. The Respondent disputed that he was dismissed and stated that he resigned on 3 March 2025.

The Complainant commenced his employment on 4 March 2024 and remained in his employment until the Respondent dismissed him via the Revenue online service on 20 March 2025.

In his written submissions, the Complainant stated that he was subjected to bullying and left the site where he was bullied, further to which he submitted medical certificates prior to the Respondent’s dismissal of him on 20 March 2025.

The Respondent stated that the Complainant’s employment ended on 3 March 2025, when he resigned following a reprimand for a safety non-compliance issue. He returned all company property the following day and informed them that he was not coming back and refused to communicate further with management.

Section 6(1) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 provides that “the dismissal of an employee shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be an unfair dismissal unless, having regard to all the circumstances, there were substantial grounds justifying the dismissal.”

Section 6(4) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 provides as follows:

4)     Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section the dismissal of an employee shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, not to be an unfair dismissal, if it results wholly or mainly from one or more of the following:

(a)   the capability, competence or qualification of the employee for performing work of the kind which he was employed by the employer to do,

(b)   the conduct of the employee,

(c)    the redundancy of the employee, and

(d)   the employee being unable to work or continue to work in the position he held without contravention (by him or by his employer) of a duty or restriction imposed by or under any statute or instrument made under statute.

Section 6(6) of the Act states as follows:

“In determining for the purposes of this Act whether the dismissal of an employee was an unfair dismissal or not, it shall be for the employer to show that the dismissal resulted wholly of mainly from one or more grounds specified in subsection (4) of this section or that there were other substantial grounds for justifying the dismissal”.

Section 6(7) of the Act states as follows:

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, in determining if a dismissal is an unfair dismissal, regard may be had, if the adjudication officer, considers it appropriate to do so—

(a) to the reasonableness or otherwise of the conduct (whether by act or omission) of the employer in relation to the dismissal, and

(b) to the extent (if any) of the compliance or failure to comply by the employer, in relation to the employee, with the procedure referred to in section 14 (1) of this Act or with the provisions of any code of practice referred to in paragraph (d) (inserted by the Unfair Dismissals (Amendment) Act, 1993) of section 7 (2) of this Act.

Preliminary Matter

In his complaint form to the WRC, the Complainant stated that his employment ended on 3 March 2025. However, in his subsequent written submissions, he asserted that his employment ended by reason of dismissal on 20 March 2025. As the only complaint form submitted to the WRC was received on 4 March 2025—prior to the alleged dismissal—I find that I do not have jurisdiction to hear this complaint.

I find that I do not have jurisdiction to hear this complaint for the reason set out above.