The Workplace Relations Commission recommended that a health service provider pay a worker €5,000 for distress caused by failures in its grievance and disciplinary procedures. The recommendation was dated 10 January 2024.
The health care assistant, who worked in a hospital’s Radiology Department, said her grievances about two colleagues had not been investigated impartially and that she could not answer statements relied on by the employer. The employer said it had completed all three grievance stages and followed its policy.
The adjudicator found that the worker had no demonstrated opportunity to respond during pre-counselling, that unrelated issues were unfairly combined and that the ordering memo was unfairly treated as a forgery complaint. The Stage 2 and Stage 3 processes relied on unrecorded statements, did not address one grievance and did not explain why managers’ accounts were preferred.
The adjudicator also recommended urgent mediation through an agreed third party to help restore relations and facilitate the worker’s return. The separate €8,254.20 loss-of-earnings claim was not recommended.