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IRISH COMPANIES HAVE paid out over €1 million in employment cases since last August, with eight cases against bodies of the state accounting for nearly €300,000 of payments upheld.
Last week’s disclosure that the Irish Prison Service had been ordered to pay €80,000 to a prison officer recovering from cancer brought the payments since last August to €298,000 for state employees. During that case, the tribunal found that there was no “clear and transparent” appointment procedure in place.
In August, it was revealed that the HSE West had been ordered to pay €70,000 to an employee that it had wrongly discriminated against.
In March, two volunteers of Offaly Civil Defence were awarded €1,200 each after both were dismissed on age grounds.
Six psychiatric nurses were awarded €3,000 each in December 2012, when it was found that they were denied access to premium-rate night shifts because of their gender.
A third-level institution was ordered to pay a complainant €45,000 in November 2012, after it was found to have discriminated on disability grounds and victimised her.
Kerry County Council was judged to have discriminated against a Polish applicant for a position of lifeguard in September 2012, while the Prison Service was ordered to pay €10,000 to an aggrieved employee the same month.
And, last August, a female teacher received €75,000 after she was dismissed from a school because, she claimed, she had complained about sexual harassment.
In total, €1,059,000 has been paid out in 59 cases since last August, an average payout of just shy of €18,000.
Despite cases involving the state accounting for such a large proportion of the money paid out, HR sources say that it would not be fair to say that the system is being taken for a ride.
“You have to remember that the state employs a lot of people, for a start,” said one HR solicitor, who did not wish to be named.
“It’s not a case that institutions of the state are run badly, but sometimes it’s hard to be sure that procedure is being followed.
At the end of the day, even if you came up with the best HR procedures, if a supervisor victimises or bullies a staff member, there’s not much you can do until it has been reported.
Generally, companies follow HR best practice, the solicitor says, but problems are abundant.
“You’d be surprised at the amount of companies that don’t do simple things. Some don’t have grievance procedures, some don’t have policies for bullying or harassment and some don’t even give contracts.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the companies in these tribunals didn’t have the same problems.”
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And no doubt the tiger will be destroyed through no fault of his own. Zoos are awful places
I don’t think it would be standard practice to put the animal down in such a case.
I don’t understand why they can’t fire a dart and put the animal to sleep each time they’re going in to clean its enclosure. Perhaps the darts are expensive but how much does a human life cost?
Perth Zoo in Australia is the only zoo in the world that has a program for breeding and introducing Orang-utans back into the wild. Mates there are some terrible zoos with poor conditions but the good zoos are vital for conservation and the survival of endangered species.
I think that might take a toll on the animals health. It’s the equivalent of a general anaesthetic.
But I would have thought they’d at least shut the animal up in a separate part of its enclosure from the area being cleaned.
Tigers are endangered and, despite being caged, it’s still a wild animal. They’re not going to kill it ffs.
They won’t kill it – it was doing what wild animals do. There was clearly a failure of usual health & safety procedures. It’s eerily similar to what happened in South Lakes Zoo in the UK a couple of years back.
That’s amazing, the second one in a week or so. You’d think people would be more careful in such a dangerous job.
I had a dream last night that I was being stalked by a pride of lions and now this.
I’m going to be real nice to the cat.
The lions represent the FG and labour party stalking you and hunting you down. you need to confront them
OMG
These big animals should be roaming the wilds with their families and not locked up in zoos.
We used to bring the kids to the zoo to see the animals as a matter of education and a good day out.
No need anymore as you can see them up close and personal now in the wonderful nature documentaries!
If they were in the wild they’d be dead. Sad but true.
They would all be grand if humans had left them alone!
Was “#mauled” really necessary for the article?
What else are you going to call it. It’s the right word.
It’s certainly an appropriate word for what happened the ‘boks yesterday.
Smiley, they’re referring to the use of the hashtag #mauled, not the word itself.
People go on about dublin zoo.how great it is etc. Went last week with young daughter for first time in 20 years. Was appalling the size of their enclosure especially the Tigers. Will never set foot in another zoo
Another gruesome case of tiger gang violence in southern hemisphere zoos. It’s a similar scenario to human prisons where gang members, eager to earn their stripes and zoo cred callously attack zoo screws often resulting in death and back slashing.
The Tigers have rights. A dirty protest and hunger strike usually works.
This tiger was a dissident tiger and was in way connected with republicanism.
Another one.
Sure most zoo animals suffer from depression.fact. dublin zoo or any other zoo are no better than them in SeaWorld. Low life’s making millions out of suffering of animals
WHere is the outrage and the mass protests?
They will have to demolish the enclosure because the place will become haunted.
have your say