Butler wins €40k from the lady of the manor over sacking
Billionaire fired servant after row on the stairs
A BUTLER has been awarded €40,000 after a court found he was unfairly dismissed by a billionaire widow.
Malcolm Munroe lost his job at Kilquade House following an argument about staffing matters with his wealthy employer Patricia Kenneally.
The Irish Daily Mail first revealed the dispute – which reads like a plot from hit TV show Downton Abbey – when it was played out in front of an Employment Appeals Tribunal in September.
The court ruled this week that Mr Munroe, who now lives in a one-bedroom flat and lives off social welfare, was unfairly dismissed from his once prestigious job.
The 62-year-old butler was hired in 2006 by Mrs Kenneally and her husband, American-Irish industrialist Joseph Thomas Kenneally, to be head of domestic and security services on their 33-acre estate in Co. Wicklow.
Mr Munroe, who previously worked for Ross Perot, JP Morgan and the Cadbury family, was paid €73,991 a year and lived in the basement.
However, the relationship between the head of the mansion’s staff and
‘Degree of trust’ was breached
the lady of the manor turned sour on July 10, 2011. Mrs Kenneally told her butler to take the afternoon off after he prepared her lunch and tidied up after she had eaten.
He returned later that evening and met his employer on the stairs of the mansion around 9.30pm.
Mr Munroe claims he merely raised concerns about the estate’s chef, Ben Patterson, who he said regularly complained about his pay and condition. Mrs Kenneally, however, said he was intoxicated and aggressive when he confronted her.
The widow felt the ‘high degree of trust’ she demanded from employees had been breached. Two days later she took the unusual step of driving herself to an engagement in Limerick and told Mr Munroe, who also acted as her chauffeur, to take some time off and ‘get himself sorted’.
Mrs Kenneally claimed she rang her chef, Mr Patterson, and inquired if he had a problem with his pay and condition. He told her he did not and claimed he had not spoken to Mr Munroe about such matters.
More than two weeks later, the butler approached Mr Patterson, about a problem he had with Mrs Kenneally’s secretary Fiona McStay, who he felt was overstepping the mark in her role.
Mr Munroe said he asked the chef to back him up if he complained to the family but the pair disagreed.
Mr Patterson, however, claimed his colleague became abusive and aggressive before pushing him up against a door. He reported the behaviour to Ms McStay and two days later the butler was suspended while the incident was investigated.
A human resource manager was drafted in to take statements from both the chef and Mrs Kenneally before a meeting was called with the house’s butler. In the company of his solicitor, Mr Munroe admitted he argued with Mr Patterson but denied he used any physical force.
He agreed a ‘breakdown of trust’ had occurred but was shocked to learn that his employer of five years, Mrs Kenneally, felt uncomfortable in his presence following the encounter on the stairway.
At the meeting he revealed he had been taking medication and said he was stressed due to personal issues and workplace problems with Ms McStay. The butler was sacked on August 17, 2011.
Since his removal from the position at Kilquade House, Mr Munroe has been living in a one-bedroom flat in Bray and living on €188 a week in social welfare payments.
He claimed he was ‘ blacklisted’ after leaving Kilquade House.
After a three-day hearing in September the employment tribunal found that the butler had been unfairly dismissed. The court highlight inconsistencies in evidence given to the tribunal by Mr Patterson and meeting notes recorded before Mr Munroe’s dismissal.
This week it awarded the butler €40,000 and instructed the family to provide him with an ‘appropriate reference’. Solicitors for Mrs Kenneally confirmed there had been a sum awarded.
Mr Munroe could not be reached for comment.