Even though a tribunal rejected his accusations that he was being targeted for reporting chemical misuse, a worker at a chemical waste disposal company earned almost €28,000 after being fired for filing a formal bullying complaint, reports RTE.
Rejecting allegations that he had made a number of protected safety disclosures regarding the purported improper handling of hazardous chemical waste and been fired as a result, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) determined that the employee’s formal bullying complaint was the “clear” reason for his termination.
In a totally anonymous ruling released today, the tribunal granted the worker the amount in response to a number of statutory complaints under employment rights and health and safety laws, reports RTE.
His previous company rejected penalisation under the Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act of 2005, however they did not contest the claimed violations of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act of 1973, the Unfair Dismissals Act of 1977, or the Payment of Wages Act of 1991.
In his testimony, the employee said that on February 10, 2023, he was disciplined and fired for complaining about the labelling, shipping, and storage of waste chemical products at his job as waste operations lead for a client firm.
He said that he had identified 25 instances of noncompliance with hazardous chemical waste management standards, each of which amounted to actions covered by health and safety legislation, reports RTE.
Nevertheless, he demonstrated that he “experienced pressure from management not to raise the issues with the client” and that he felt “excluded” in meetings starting in December 2022 because the corporation would “dismiss” what he had to say.
He claimed that he “did not have time to engage with TenForce” and that he had either “flagged the issues” or contacted “the people who needed to know” instead of using the company’s safety software, TenForce, to record the difficulties.
He said that there were “just so many hours in the day” and that he “did not have sufficient on-site support,” reports RTE.
According to the tribunal, the employer was pursuing a plan at this time to relocate the company’s logistics operations from the client location where the complaint was employed; the complainant had objected to this move.
The complainant was told that a “interpersonal dispute with colleagues” was the root of his disagreement with the organisation.
In January 2023, the employee claimed to have complained about “bullying” and a “unhealthy working environment,” stating that he was “excluded” from many meetings, “put a lot of pressure on me,” and “were shouting at me over various things,” reports RTE.
The tribunal was informed that after sending the email, he was put on “administrative leave” and fired a week later.
Although the operations manager denied firing the worker for filing a bullying complaint, he acknowledged that there had been “interpersonal issues” between the complainant and a project manager as well as a “fundamental breakdown” in working relations.
He informed the tribunal that he had experienced similar issues with his last two supervisors. He provided proof that he had called to terminate the complainant’s job and placed him on administrative leave “due to the stress [the project manager] was under,” reports RTE.
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