WRC rejects driver’s unfair dismissal and breaks complaints

The Workplace Relations Commission found Colin Connolly’s unfair dismissal and working time complaints not well founded, with no award recorded. adjudication Officer Marie Flynn found Connolly had not been dismissed and that the rules he relied on for work breaks did not cover him as a mobile road transport worker. In a decision dated 15 august 2024, Connolly said a dispute over a delivery led to his dismissal after he left work to see his father before he entered hospice. The respondent denied dismissing him and said it expected him to return. Flynn found that a letter warning of possible disciplinary action indicated the employment relationship was continuing. Connolly also said he had to take breaks while loading or unloading. The WRC found that, as a driver in vehicles required to have tachographs, he was not covered by the act’s section 12 break provision. Both complaints were found not well founded.