Top stud farm bosses ‘wouldn’t know how to log on to online banking’, WRC is told

A former employee at one of the country’s top independent stud farms was required to fill out handwritten ledgers detailing each bank transaction as bosses there were “quite old-fashioned” and “wouldn’t know how to log on to online banking”, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard.

The tribunal also heard Yeomanstown Stud claims that among matters it raised with its former bookkeeper, who has brought a case for unfair dismissal, was that a ledger was “out by €11m”.

At the WRC, Gillian Keane, a former employee at the Co Kildare stud, said she had been “treated quite aggressively in front of another worker” on the day she came back to work at the accounts office after nearly a month out on sick leave for workplace stress, having made allegations of bullying against an office manager.

Her former employers, horse breeders Rolline and David O’Callaghan, insist it was Ms Keane who was aggressive on November 1 last year.

The O’Callaghans are directors of Mull Enterprises Ltd, the company that employed Ms Keane part-time at the stud farm and is the respondent to her complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act.

Mark Finan, for the O’Callaghans, said the company had informed Ms Keane on October 5 last year they were going to advertise for a financial manager, though the worker had taken the position that she was already fulfilling the role.

“Far from what Ms Keane suggests – that she was a star employee – she had a history of making material mistakes,” he said, adding that Ms Keane had rejected what he termed “constructive criticism” from Ms O’Callaghan.

He said Ms Keane was told she could apply for the role, but the worker “took this as a unilateral attack on her position”.

In a submission quoted to the tribunal, Ms Keane said the office manager had “created such a dreadful atmosphere” that it was difficult to concentrate on her work and that she had taken to wearing headphones at work.

Ms Keane is to give her evidence in chief at a later date.

Rolline O’Callaghan said she expected Ms Keane to come back to work following her medical leave on October 17 with medical certification of her fitness to resume work but that the worker failed to provide this.

“Ms Keane states that she felt very threatened by this atmosphere,” Mr Finan put it to his client.

Ms O’Callaghan said: “I would say the opposite; she was in the room when I entered, sitting on her desk, aggressively flicking through her phone… it didn’t end particularly well, she was shouting, she was aggressive. I told her it was impossible to engage with her when she was like this.”

She said the worker “just stormed out of the office”.

Ms O’Callaghan said a major part of Ms Keane’s job was to fill out handwritten ledgers with details of each bank transaction for four companies operating from the stud farm.

This was for primarily for the benefit of her “quite old-fashioned” father-inlaw, horse breeder Gay O’Callaghan, and her husband, who “wouldn’t know how to log on to online banking”, she said.

Among the matters raised with Ms Keane on her second return to work on November 1 were that a ledger was “out by €11m”, Mr Finan said.

Ms O’Callaghan confirmed to her counsel that, as Ms Keane had stated, her father-in-law came to the accounts office to discuss the accounts discrepancy on November 1 and told the complainant: “I nearly had a heart attack.”

The company says Ms Keane cannot succeed in her WRC claim as it argues she severed her employment contract by mutual agreement in a phone conversation with Mr O’Callaghan on the afternoon of November 1. Ms Keane disputes agreeing to the deal on the phone.

Adjudicator Conor Stokes adjourned the matter and is to hear Ms Keane’s direct evidence on a later date.