Courts / Ireland / Report

Social worker can't pursue claim over 'adverse' reference

Summary

An agency social worker, Jonathon Joyce, claimed he lost a job offer after a Health Services Executive (HSE) manager gave an adverse reference to a recruitment agency. He said the reference led to him being unable to work as a social worker and forced him to take lower‑paid work as a healthcare assistant. Joyce worked for the HSE's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) on a series of contracts from March 2021 to December 2022, resigning in June 2022 and returning as maternity cover. He alleged that his manager accused him of putting patients at risk for not attending work, gave him one week's notice of dismissal in December 2022, and that the reference contained negative comments about his performance and team relationships. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found Joyce had less than the 12 months of continuous service required for the Unfair Dismissals Act to apply, and rejected his claim on jurisdictional grounds.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Social worker can't pursue claim over 'adverse' reference. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial

When:

• March 2021 Other
• December 2022 Other
• November 2022 Incident
• 1 December 2022 Other
• 19th December 2022 Other
• 20 December 2022 Other
• December 27th Other
• August 2021 Other
• June 2022 Other
• Christmas 2022 Other
• 2024-02-12 Publication

Why: An agency social worker who said he had a job offer withdrawn because a Health Services Executive (HSE) manager made "adverse comments" about him to a recruitment agency has been told he cannot pursue an unfair dismissal claim. CNI source report

Case subjects

Topics

Stage Charge Or Pretrial

Read the original CNI report