A council worker who said he was strangled with a seatbelt by a colleague who threatened to “sort [him] out” has been paid €20,000 for Wexford County Council’s handling of the incident, reports RTE.
His trade union argued to the Workplace Relations Board that the council “do not follow any procedures and do not put any supports in place for an individual who finds themselves in a difficult scenario” and that people were “being damaged in a very big way”, reports RTE.
The tribunal ruled that the employee received reduced overtime and duties after making a formal behavior complaint – with one judge saying the case was “at the most serious end of the scale”, reports RTE.
The tribunal made findings following a disciplinary complaint under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, filed by Patrick O’Connor against Wexford County Council, published this morning.
Mr O’Connor said he was attacked by Mr F in November 2019 while the two were traveling in a council car when Mr F put a seat belt around his neck and “started to strangle him”, reports RTE.
“I asked him who gives him the authority to question my work,” Mr O’Connor said, adding that Mr F then became “extremely aggressive” and had to be restrained by the acting foreman, reports RTE.
“In between this violent behaviour, [Mr F] said with a waving clenched fist, that he would meet me after work in the 1798 centre and sort me out. I said – and I don’t deny saying this – I called him a ‘freak’,” Mr O’Connor said, reports RTE.
Mr O’Connor said his overtime was also blocked.
The complainant said a council officer completed an incident report form for her in July 2021, but Ciara O’Reilly, an HR officer at Wexford County Council, told the WRC that the complaint did not reach HR until January 2022.
In her closing submission, Mrs Malone, on behalf of the applicant, requested that the judge appoint one of the named persons to deal with her client’s complaint.
“It’s essential we don’t have any more Mickey Mouse investigations or appeals or anything else. Wexford County Council do not follow any procedures and do not put any supports in place for an individual who finds themselves in a difficult scenario. This man has been sick, he’s been to the doctor, he’s complained that he can’t function properly, he can’t sleep – his whole family life is in disarray,” she said, reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.