Labour Court upholds union appeal over G4S security officer’s return to patrol team

The Labour Court upheld the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s appeal and varied a Rights Commissioner’s recommendation concerning a security officer at G4S Secure Solutions (Ireland) Limited. In a decision dated 10 June 2013, it recommended that the company notify the worker when the next Patrol and Response team post became available and give him the position if he had committed no further transgressions. The worker had been removed from patrol duties and given a warning after missing a shift on his written roster. The union said he believed it was his rest day and considered the sanction disproportionate after 12 years’ service. The company said he needed to rebuild confidence in his customer care through supervised assignments. It told the Court it expected a team vacancy in August 2013. The warning had expired by the time of the decision.