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A MAN HAS been awarded €9,600 by the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) after being dismissed from his job with a refuse collection company on Christmas Eve.
The incident happened in 2012 when Austin Power was working with Oxigen Environmental, a refuse disposal company operating in Waterford.
The appellant in the case, Power, was found to be disposing of his own rubbish through the company’s system – something that he said he had been told was a perk of the job.
What happened?
Power was discovered to be disposing of waste without being a paying customer of the respondent when the operations manager with the company came out to visit him as he had injured his shoulder.
On the drive out to the respondent’s house, the operations manager was accompanied by the driver of the lorry. On passing the driver’s house, the operations manager noticed that there were bins outside – but none carrying the company’s tags.
Following this the respondent hired a private investigator who discovered that both the driver of the lorry and the appellant were having their bins emptied for free by the company.
Disciplinary action followed this, with the appellant being advised in writing on 24 December 2012 that he was being dismissed for gross misconduct.
A subsequent appeal against this dismissal was turned down in January of 2013.
The judgement
Following this, the appellant brought his case to the EAT.
It found that there had been a practice in place within the company of employees disposing of their own refuse without being paying customers.
A recommendations was made that the company should have been more prudent in informing employees that this was not a ‘perk of the job’.
While a memo was sent around informing employees of this, the EAT stated in its judgement that, “rather than expend monies on a private investigator the respondent could have ensured that the employees were unequivocally informed that the practice was to discontinue and that the consequence of continuance would be the dismissal of employee in question.”
It concluded that a lesser sanction would have been appropriate in these circumstances and, as such, the award of €9,600 was given.
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breaks!!!! put a brake on the spell check their lads!!!
That’s the least of your worries if you drive a Renault
Don’t you mean “there lads!!!” Give me a brake.. Er I mean break
ha ha…. fair cop Sinead! !!!!!!
Trying to get it to start would be more of an issue!!
Ok Michael…. first, what’s a brake nose?? second Renault cars are not produced in Ireland. Dose anybody actually proof read anything in the Journal??
“dose” anybody lol
Pontius
That is what I would call a mixed up Renault
Sorry to be a grammar nazi, but – *brakes
In 2012 i had called the aa out to jump start my car which had been sat up for a few months and was chatting away to the lad. he said that about a quarter of all call outs they were getting were for 2011 fluences. No car is bulletproof and every model will have faults, but french cars are and have for a long time been notorious. Poor build quality, poor reliability, horrific electrics and short warranties.
How’s a 5 year warranty short? An Audi only has a 2 yr one ..
French cars in general, and Renault in particular, are absolute rubbish. Their only redeeming feature is comfortable seats.
Breaks??
This is just one of many manufacturer recalls on vehicles on Irish roads and really is a non news story. No mention of the fact that the owners of any vehicles will be contacted directly to advise of a rework. Anyone concerned can contact their local dealer with the chassis number who will confirm if the vehicle is one that falls under the recall.
You need a 10 year warranty with VW, Audi, BMW,Opel any of the German crap except Merc…. They have kept the standards high… As for the French cars…… forget it , waste of metal
We had a scenic til earlier this year..Over it but wrought with issues ..first the whole electronic dash board went and had to be replaced. .We paid the reduced rate of £ 170 as it was known to be faulty ( normally £900+). then the electronic handbrake went and although also known to be faulty it was going to cost £370 for part and god knows what for labour. For us it wasn’t worth fixing at that cost ..but I did love that car!
Ask your local mechanic who’s electric handbrakes fail most: I think you’ll find VW is the winner of that title. …
…which is one reason why Skoda is popular : std keys, handbrake, suspension.
I dont want to brake your balls …but it’s “braking” & “brakes”.
I’m guilty of relying on autocorrect (dont) above so I can’t be too critical.
brakes
Renaults are terrible. Any person I’ve ever known to drive one says they’re nothing but trouble.
141 merc it’s being back twice now I’am glad I did’nt pay for it
I have a Renault Clio and a few times the accelerator has got stuck down at full speed, and wont release. I have had to put my foot under the pedal and pull it back up. Anyone else experience this?!
I presume they mean “brake hose”.
Break nose?
have your say