WRC rejects Verizon worker’s €1,250 training-cost complaint

The Workplace Relations Commission found Kevin Rodgers’s complaint against Verizon Ireland Limited not well-founded after deciding the company met its 2021 training obligations to the European Works Council. The decision was dated 14 April 2023. Rodgers sought reimbursement of €1,250 in costs from attending a European Works Council conference in Hamburg in September 2021. He argued the conference gave useful additional training, including on confidential information, and that Dublin sessions had not covered practical steps in the Irish system. Verizon said it had already provided extensive training in Dublin and told the complainants before the conference that it would not reimburse the costs. The adjudication officer accepted that the Hamburg conference was valuable, particularly on confidentiality, but found this did not make the Dublin training insufficient. The officer concluded the Dublin sessions counted as training and met Verizon’s obligations for 2021. The decision also said the EWC should have complained about a failure to provide training before attending Hamburg, rather than seek reimbursement afterwards. The complaint was made under the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act.