The Labour Court found that Blacklough Construction Limited dismissed and penalised Graham Kealy for raising workplace safety concerns, and awarded him €20,000 compensation. The Court set aside an earlier decision that had found his complaint not well founded. Kealy had raised concerns about working without a banksman, who would guide crane operations.
The determination was signed on 16 January 2023. Kealy said he was told not to return after lunch and was locked out of the site. The company disputed penalisation and said he had walked off. The Court found Kealy had made protected safety complaints, including one on 11 October 2021, and that a foreman locked the gates to stop him returning. It concluded that, but for those complaints, he would not have been locked out and his employment would not have ended. Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, penalisation means a worker suffers a detriment for carrying out a protected safety-related act.