WRC recommends €1,700 for driver unfairly dismissed after refusing job

The WRC recommended €1,700 compensation for a driver it found had been unfairly dismissed after refusing a job during a bus breakdown. Adjudication Officer Patricia Owens dated the recommendation 3 June 2026 and also recommended new employment contracts, grievance and disciplinary procedures, and a clear annual leave policy. The worker said he had raised concerns about pay, days off, annual leave and missing payslips before his employer ended his job by phone. The employer said the worker refused two jobs while it was dealing with a bus breakdown and accepted that he was leaving. Owens found the worker acted unreasonably in refusing a job, but also found the employer had not provided written employment terms or clear grievance and disciplinary procedures. Owens concluded that the employer had ended the employment without any semblance of a procedure and upheld the complaint. She took account of the short employment and the worker’s contribution to his dismissal when recommending compensation. A section 13 recommendation is not legally binding.