The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Circle K to pay shop supervisor Siddarth Thirunavukkarasu €1,000 compensation after finding that he had been harassed at work. The decision by Adjudication Officer Jim Dolan was dated 18 June 2025.
Thirunavukkarasu alleged discrimination, harassment and victimisation after a manager asked him to deal with a toilet-cleaning incident and later told him not to visit the Belgard store except as a customer. Circle K disputed the claims. The WRC found no discrimination or victimisation, noting that he had not identified a comparator: someone without the protected characteristic whose treatment could be compared with his own.
The harassment finding concerned the manager’s “Come on, be a man” remark when he objected to the cleaning task. The WRC considered that remark in light of the legal test for harassment, which covers unwanted conduct linked to a protected ground that violates a person’s dignity or creates a hostile or humiliating environment. The compensation was payable within 42 days of the decision.