Labour Court recommends €5,000 each for two Cork City Council complainants

The Labour Court recommended that Cork City Council pay two complainants €5,000 each and offer one engineer the chance to return to his former post after finding his transfer contrary to the council’s Dignity at Work Procedure. The recommendation was signed on 30 November 2012. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union said the council had failed to act on an investigator’s findings upholding two engineering staff members’ bullying complaints against an assistant city manager. It also said moving one complainant from the Traffic Department to the Water Department breached the procedure. The council said no disciplinary action was appropriate because the investigator had not considered the assistant city manager’s submission, and that the transfer arose from restructuring. The Court found the investigation followed council procedures and that neither side appealed its findings. It said management had accepted those findings but had not properly explained its decision to take no further action. It also found the transfer inappropriate in context and contrary to the procedure. The Court recommended an explanation and reassurance for the complainants, and steps with the unions to restore confidence in the council’s handling of bullying complaints.