Sacked livestock agent ‘in wrong place at wrong time’ for off-books cattle trade

A livestock agent who called accusations of fraud levelled at him by his former employer “baseless” after he admitted knowledge of a cattle sale brokered privately by a colleague has won €2,000 for unfair dismissal.

The worker, Bobby Fenton, admitted knowledge of a deal brokered by a colleague, Mr A, to export cattle from west Cork via another firm in June 2021, but maintained he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when a manager spotted him at the farm on the day the animals were to be collected.

Bertie Troy, Grasstec’s managing director, took the view that by seeking information on post-Brexit export arrangements from the firm and then forwarding the information to Mr A, Mr Fenton “facilitated fraudulent dealing” worth €9,000, which should have been part of the employer’s business. The firm’s lawyers argued Mr Fenton “deliberately and consciously set out to compete with [it] by trading in livestock on his own account during working hours”.

At a meeting on June 25, 2021, Mr Fenton admitted he was at the farm and knew about the trade, telling his bosses he “should have owned up about the dealings of Mr A”, Mr Troy added.

Witness

Another company witness who drove Mr Fenton home after his dismissal said the complainant remarked en route: “Bertie had no choice.”

Mr Fenton’s evidence was that he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, as he had legitimate business in the area and had “travelled down” with his colleague.

However, he accepted that he did have dealings with the UK customer who received the animals. The complainant argued in a submission to the hearing that there was no proper investigation, the accusations against him were “baseless” and that there were multiple procedural deficiencies in how he was treated.

He told the tribunal Mr Troy acted as “judge and jury” on the day he was sacked.

Adjudicator Thomas O’Driscoll found that Grasstec’s management “may well have been justifiably angry at the turn of events”, but that there was “a total disregard for any type of fair procedure” in Mr Fenton’s sacking.

However, he decided there was “significant” contribution by Mr Fenton to dismissal and that he was not satisfied with the evidence on mitigation of losses — ordering Grasstec Ltd to pay €2,000 in compensation on foot of Mr Fenton’s complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.