Labour Court rejects union appeal over Dublin firefighter’s warning

The Labour Court rejected the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s appeal for an unnamed Dublin Fire Brigade firefighter and upheld the Rights Commissioner’s recommendation that his warning remain. The decision was signed on 30 September 1997. The worker received a reprimand after refusing to return to Tara Street Station following shifts there; an internal appeal changed the reprimand to a warning. The union argued that the disciplinary process was unfair and that the worker had been told to return to North Strand. Dublin Corporation said he had refused an order and discipline was essential to the emergency service. The Court noted that the parties had since agreed a protocol for incidents of this kind. It also noted that the warning was not on the worker’s record and would not be used against him in future.