Hospital porter was sacked after dressing up as dinosaur

A COCAINE addict who dressed up as a dinosaur while working as a hospital porter has lost his claim for unfair dismissal.

Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudication Officer Catherine Byrne found the dismissal was reasonable, proportionate and not unfair.

The porter first came to the negative notice of his hospital bosses after a clinical nurse manager reported that on April 11, 2019, he was distracting staff from getting on with their work, had dressed up as a dinosaur and had disrupted the evening drugs round.

Ms Byrne said the facts as outlined by the hospital concerning the incident had not been contradicted.

A representative for the unnamed hospital told the WRC hearing the porter had been unable to perform his duties due to being under the influence of alcohol, unprescribed drugs or the misuse of prescribed medicine.

The hospital’s Occupational Health Consultant (OHC) recommended the porter to

He distracted staff and disrupted the evening drugs round

a rehab programme after he tested positive for cocaine and benzodiazepine and had an addiction to cocaine and alcohol.

The hearing was told the porter disagreed with the recommendation and failed to engage with management.

The hospital said despite numerous attempts to contact him, the porter did not make any contact with management until he was dismissed 20 weeks later in September 2019.

The hearing heard the man, who had been employed at the hospital since 2013, was dismissed for gross misconduct for failing to perform his job due to being under the influence of unprescribed drugs or prescribed medicine and for failing to engage with management about his ongoing absence.

Siptu, acting for the porter, argued the hospital took no account of mitigating circumstances and that the porter was suffering from depression, that his partner was expecting a baby and that they had lost their accommodation and had been forced to move in with his parents.

Ms Byrne said she had taken account of the mitigating circumstances.