The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Malgorzata Lejza €3,840 after finding she was unfairly dismissed by constructive dismissal. The decision was dated 8 March 2023. Her complaints about breaks, annual leave and public holiday entitlements were not well founded.
Lejza worked as a sales assistant for Mercury Food Distributors Ltd t/a Mercury Cash & Carry from June 2020 until she resigned in August 2021. She said she faced verbal abuse, heavy lifting, inadequate cold-weather clothing and a delayed response to her grievance. The company said it had offered to investigate and that she resigned before its grievance process was completed.
The adjudicator found Lejza’s account of ongoing abuse credible and considered the workplace conditions, the delayed grievance response and the lack of translated employment procedures. The award was equivalent to eight weeks’ pay. The adjudicator also found no satisfactory evidence that she had tried to reduce her loss and excluded compensation for periods when illness left her unavailable for work.