The Workplace Relations Commission found that accountant Gerard Crawley’s complaint against Dundalk Institute of Technology was not well founded. Adjudication Officer Pat Brady dated the decision 23 February 2022.
Crawley said an email to the institute’s Governing Body on 6 December 2018 raised concerns about its accounts, including an earlier €812,000 income discrepancy. He alleged that the institute retaliated through workplace and email investigations, restrictions on his external work and its handling of a grievance. The institute disputed that the email was a protected disclosure and denied penalising him.
The WRC found that the email did not disclose information pointing to relevant wrongdoing and that Crawley had no basis to reasonably believe such wrongdoing was likely. It also found that his allegations about the institute’s subsequent actions did not establish penalisation. The complaint was dismissed.