Jaroslaw Lukasiewicz’s unfair dismissal claim rejected after sleeping on duty

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Jaroslaw Lukasiewicz’s unfair dismissal claim over sleeping on duty was rejected by the Workplace Relations Commission after a hearing on 10 February 2022.

Lukasiewicz was a security guard assigned alone to a housing estate in County Offaly. The employer said a manager found him asleep, away from his post and out of uniform on 10 December 2019.

Lukasiewicz accepted that he had fallen asleep but argued that long, varying 12-hour shifts had disrupted his sleep and left him exhausted and ‘jet lagged’. His submission said his previously impeccable disciplinary record was undisputed and that dismissal was excessive.

Adjudication officer Pat Brady rejected the shift-based mitigation, finding no perceptible relationship between the variation in shifts and the incident. He found the allegations substantially established, saw no convincing procedural defect and concluded that dismissal was a reasonable response given the security work involved.

The decision also found his complaints about working time breaks, night work and minimum notice not well founded. Three other complaints had been withdrawn.