Man who worked 364 days a year for 51 years at garage dismissed without notice after theft accusation

At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), adjudicator Bríd Deering ordered the family-owned garage business to pay a total of €30,400 compensation to the man for unfair dismissal and a series of other workplace breaches.

The man worked for the business from the time he was aged 16 in July 1970 to his dismissal on December 17, 2021.

He said that he enjoyed over 50 years of a happy working life with the garage.

The man was responsible for doing everything at the garage including attending the pumps, fixing punctures and working in the shop.

Ms Deering accepted the man’s evidence that he worked seven days a week, from 10am to 10pm Monday to Saturday, and from 1pm to 10pm on Sundays.

She said that it was common case that the employee did not take annual leave and that he worked 364 days of the year. She found that the total hours worked by the complainant per week - less breaks - were 68 hours.

In her findings, Ms Deering found that had worked for over 51 years for the garage without issue prior to November 2021.

She said it was incumbent on the employer to follow fair procedures once a suspicion of wrongdoing came to the garage’s attention.

She found that the man was dismissed on December 17, 2021, without notice and that the failure to follow fair procedures rendered the dismissal unfair. She ordered the garage to pay the man €10,000 for the unfair dismissal.

The man told the hearing that he worked seven days a week, 364 days of the year and his only day off was Christmas Day.

He said that if his children had a special occasion, such as a First Communion, he would go to the Mass and then return to work.

Under cross-examination, the man said he knew it was slave labour, but he was in a rut for 50 years and he had no choice but to keep going.

He said there was no one else to do the work so he had to be there every day. He denied that he was free to come and go as he pleased.

Employers, anonymised in the ruling as Mrs K and her husband, took over the business in 2005. The business was previously owned by her father-in-law.

Mrs K stated that the complainant was held in the height of esteem by her and her family and this whole episode has been heart-breaking for the family.

She said that on November 18, 2021, she saw a customer running with a bag of coal on his shoulder which she thought unusual.

She asked the complainant if the customer had paid for the coal and he said he had paid for it in cash. Mrs K went into the garage to empty the tills.

She said there was no record of the sale of coal and CCTV footage showed the complainant putting the cash in his pocket and that the complainant had done the same thing one hour previously in relation to another cash payment for coal.

Mrs K continued to examine footage in the following weeks and again saw the complainant putting cash received for sales into his pocket on several occasions.

She said she and her husband had a meeting on December 17 to ask the man about the footage and in response their employee said he had nothing to say and was leaving and that the garage could keep the Christmas bonus.

The matter was then reported to An Garda Síochána and is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Mrs K said the complainant was asked to take his holidays but refused and she would have preferred if he spent more time with his family.

In his own evidence, the worker offered a conflicting account of the December 17 meeting with Mrs and Mr K.

He claims that he was told that 44,200 litres of gas was missing, to which he replied there must be a leak.

At that he claims he was told “you can f*** off with yourself now, you are fired, and you can walk up the road”. The complainant said nothing and left the premises. He never returned.

The complainant denies stealing from his employer.

Under cross-examination, it was put to the complainant that he was given two warnings to stop what he was doing. He denied he was given any warnings.

He did acknowledge that he was subsequently shown the CCTV footage relating to him by gardaí.

In her findings and in addition to the €10,000 unfair dismissal compensation, Ms Deering has ordered €5,000 compensation for a breach of ‘weekly rest’ regulations; €5,000 compensation for ‘maximum working hours’ regulations and €5,000 for ‘annual leave’ regulations.

She ordered an additional €3,600 be paid for ‘minimum notice’ and €1,800 for a breach of ‘terms and conditions of employment’.

She said she exercised her discretion and has anonymised the ruling due to the circumstances of the case.