Mr F wins sick leave law breach award after warning

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Mr F €1,428.75, equivalent to three weeks’ pay, for a breach of the Sick Leave Act. The proceedings were reported on 24 May 2024.

Mr F, a customer service adviser at an unidentified service provider to the financial services sector, said he received a verbal warning in September 2023 after unplanned absences. He said either he or members of his family had been unwell.

He said he became very sick with flu-like symptoms at work on 12 October 2023 and took a day and a half of sick leave, submitting a doctor’s note and availing of statutory sick pay. He subsequently received a written warning, which was upheld on internal appeal.

The company said he had been absent six times in ten months, totalling 11.5 days, and regarded this as a significantly high level of absence. It said it was entitled to discipline him, maintained it had followed fair procedures and the relevant statutory code, and denied a breach of the Act.

Mr F, who represented himself, argued that a person using the statutory scheme was entitled to be treated as if they had not been absent. He also claimed he had been penalised for exercising his rights under the Act. Adjudicator Emer O’Shea made the award for the breach.