Labour Court withdraws one warning and upholds another

In 1993, the Labour Court partly changed a recommendation about two written warnings issued to a worker at The Wheelan Boot Manufacturing Company. It withdrew the first warning and left the second in place, with the worker’s position in the disciplinary procedure amended accordingly. The decision was dated 15 April 1993. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union appealed the Rights Commissioner’s recommendation after the worker received the warnings following shoe damage incidents in May 1992. The union disputed that he was responsible and said he felt undue pressure after winning an unfair-dismissal claim in 1990. The company said its investigation placed the damage at his machines. The Court said responsibility for the fault could not clearly be laid at the worker’s door, while stressing each employee’s responsibility for product quality.