Taken two miles out to sea to be quizzed about missing €10k

A WORKER at an amusement company has won an unfair dismissal claim after he was taken over two miles out to sea to be questioned about a missing €10,000.

The man told the Workplace Relations Commission that two of his bosses and a friend of theirs took him 2.6 miles from land by speedboat then told him he would not be able to swim back to shore because of the coldness of the water.

He claimed the boss of the company, aggressively questioned him for more than an hour about the missing money and he denied any knowledge of its disappearance.

He told the WRC that he was scared and cold during the questioning.

The worker told the WRC that he was subjected to physical and mental stress, was verbally abused and that he was later forced to resign under duress.

He said three people questioned him on the speedboat – the company director, his line manager and a business associate of the company director.

The worker said that all three were asking him questions about stealing money from the company and that the director was aggressive in his language.

He said he was forced to sign a resignation letter when they returned to shore.

The letter, dated April 27, 2017, prepared by the company’s human resources manager stated: ‘I refer to our conversation this morning and wish to confirm my decision to resign with immediate effect.’

The firm subsequently sent the complainant wages that were owed to him.

He returned it with a note stating: ‘What you planned and did to me last Thursday morning was unforgivable. I have been a loyal committed employee for years. I can’t understand why. Why did you do what you did?’

The worker said that he subsequently made a complaint to the gardaí, but no criminal prosecution had ensued.

WRC adjudication officer Joe Donnelly found that the man was unfairly dismissed, even though the company director offered a version of events that was completely at odds with the worker’s account. The company director claimed that he had invited staff out on his boat to prepare for a new season and only two staff decided to come with him.

After they returned, he claimed he decided to have a meeting with the complainant regarding concerns about low customer numbers in one area of the business.

He said during this meeting the worker expressed his wish to resign.

WRC official Mr Donnelly upheld the man’s claim for unfair dismissal and awarded him €889. The award is low as the man has been in receipt of disability payments since resigning – as he is unavailable for work he is deemed not to be suffering a financial loss.

Referring to the speedboat incident, Mr Donnelly said: ‘It is clear that the purpose of the exercise was to frighten the complainant and this had been successfully achieved. The further purpose would appear to have been to get the complainant to resign.’

Mr Donnelly said that the director’s story of inviting the worker to participate in a boat trip, decided upon at short notice because it was a nice morning, ‘simply does not ring true’.

He said: ‘On the balance of probabilities, the resignation of the complainant was brought about by duress due to the actions of the respondent.’

‘Purpose was to frighten him’