Labour Court overturns recommendation and says refuge worker’s warning should be expunged

The Labour Court overturned a Rights Commissioner’s recommendation and decided that a verbal warning issued to a refuge worker should be expunged. The Court’s decision was dated 3 August 2007. Bray Women's Refuge Centre said the worker breached confidentiality by contacting a former manager about a sensitive email and failed to report the matter. The Court called the worker’s actions ill-advised and an inadvertent breach, but said counselling would have been more appropriate given the vague policies, the worker’s motives and record, and the lack of a clear management chain. It also endorsed the recommendation that the parties draw a line under the incident.