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A RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE who was fired after rinsing dishes with cold water and allowing his wife to drink discounted coffee has been awarded €20,000 for unfair dismissal by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Klaudiusz Tuchowski was dismissed by Graham O’Sullivan Restaurants Limited, which operates several restaurants in the greater Dublin area, in August 2013 after seven years of employment with the company.
Warnings
A representative for the firm said it had issued him with two warnings prior to his sacking.
The representative said Tuchowski had been given a verbal warning in May 2013 after allowing his wife to drink coffee that had been purchased at the reduced staff rate.
Tuchowski was subsequently issued a written warning in July 2013 after allegedly rinsing dishes with cold water, when new company policy dictated that dishes and utensils should be rinsed with hot water before being placed in a washing machine.
The former kitchen porter claimed that he had only been rinsing the sink with cold water.
Sacked
He was sacked by his general manager the following month without a second or final written warning, a right of appeal or written confirmation of his dismissal.
The manager, according to the defendant, “made it clear to the respondent at a meeting that he (the respondent) had alienated so many of his colleagues that it was impossible to keep him”.
In a recent judgement, the tribunal ruled that there was a lack of fair procedures in dismissing the employee.
It said that the misdemeanours allegedly committed by the respondent were “petty” and “not warranting the ultimate sanction warranted”.
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Are employers not familiar with the correct dismissal procedure? It seems every week in the news someone is awarded 10k+ for unfair dismissal.. Just seems weird that employers can’t follow what seems like a simple procedure in order to fire someone.
There is nothing simple about the procedure to dismiss an employee Sue. It’s incredibly complicated, time consuming and extremely easy to get it wrong. Couple that with the fact that that in employment law cases, the burden of proof is with the employer not the employee. Thats why so many employees win unfair dismissal cases.
That’s why zero hour contracts make it easier for employers to get rid of staff like that. But it also punishes decent staff at the same time.
Maybe the question is why is the journal running these stories on a weekly basis at the moment?
In this story as with the others id say people just don’t have the time for faffing about in reading up and applying he procedures. This payout was quite large, but for some of the others you might just say feck it take the hit and you have a quick resolution.
You also have to remember that the restaurant customer doesn’t have to follow any procedures, they can dismiss you straight away if they’re unhappy with something.
None of this adds up. Why would an employer sack a good employee? In these cases it’s the undefinable that is the real story. Suspicions or irritations or impact on overall morale that leads to a rash decision. The law is stacked in favour of the employee.
A warning to all employers. Employment law legislation will favour the employee where procedure has not been correctly followed. Investigation; findings; right of appeal of employee; sanction; dismissal if warranted. Failure to follow correct procedure will result in large payouts and a hike in your employers liability insurance.
Delighted. I woked for them in th 70/80s in those days of course they used to get away with murder in terms of hr an health and safety practices. There was always an endless stream of early school leavers an local women that were greatful of a bit of cash in hand and therefore willing to put up with anything. I know theres stil employers that will try to flout the law but at least now there some break on them. Its only now it dawns on me how mad it was in thoses days they’d have 13 year olds on the hop from school washing up for bout 25p an hour and I can tell u they didn’t give a shit weathere th water was hot or cold. I this guy enjoys th money an invests some of it in his skill set so that hes doesn’t have to depend on an employer like this again. I remember once someone was heard to talk about joining a union. One of the o sullivans arrived out that evening. Took us all into a back store room. With menace he told us that there was not going to b a union an if it ever happened he would closes for a day sack us and reopen the next day. it was a room full of uneducated 16 year olds with not a lot of other options. So needless to say the big man won.
Sure they’ll recoup the €20k with a few all day breakfasts. Graham should consider a new policy of his staff wearing balaclavas. Absolute rip-off. 5 items, that’ll be sixty eight euros please.
To recoup €20,000, they would probably need to sell in the region of €200,000 worth of meals. Quite a few all day breakfasts..
Yep, have you seen their prices. They’ll be ok.
No, never had the pleasure of dining there Stephen. Dont really know anything about them. Any good?
No, awful.
I highly doubt their margins are that low…
That will buy a nice house in Poland, fair play to him!!
Will also buy him many nice houses in Africa but he’s not in Africa or Poland he’s in Ireland.
He was sacked unfairly and took his employer to court and won.
Some immigrant workers have copped this as another gravy train.
I know of a shop in the West of Ireland where a husband, wife and now their friend are all claiming different breaches of employment law in the hope of getting a few bob.
Naturally they are supported on a ‘no foal no fee basis by the local lip-smacking solicitor.
Employers need properly laid out HR guidelines even SME’s if you dont have them or dont follow the ones you have you will lose even if the employee was fired for good reason .
We got a company in to draw up HR procedures which we give to each employee , they read and acknowledge them by signing a form which is kept on file along with their attendance and training record , its fair on everyone if we know where we stand from day one.
that doesn’t always work either , I know a company that has a proper hr dept and they followed the procedures to the letter , the person that was sacked had also signed the hand rule book and the company still lost the case . .
Every case is different ? Better though to have a system in place which is open to examination and sets out clear guidelines for all employees .
That doesn’t make any sense. Washing dishes with cold water is against health and safety regulations, if the HSE pays a visit and find this man washing dishes like that they could issue a warning to the establishment, and discounted drinks are for employees only, not for family of employees. He was given a warning prior being fired, seems to me that the employers was right and obliged to fire him since he has been previously warned and represented a health and safety risk.
washing dishes with cold water prior to putting them into the dishwasher is against health and safety regulations? seems to me like you haven’t read the article correctly.
Rinsing with cold water before going into the dishwasher. There is a big difference. Also it states the wife was seen drinking from a coffee he purchased at the staff rate. This all seems very petty indeed.
Having worked in kitchens I have witnessed relationships between staff deteriorate and then you get effective dismissal. General meanness and petty behaviour that pushes the unfavoured staff member out. Kitchen porters are generally treated like dogs bodies. I say fair play to the guy, this seems like a manager making a balls up and hoping he didn’t know his rights.
When you read the article, you’ll see that their policy is to rinse in hot water then put them in the dishwasher. You’ll also see that he denies rinsing anything in cold water and says that he was in fact just rinsing the sink itself. Since the burden of proof is on the employer and they lost, we can safely assume that there no proof that he rinsed the plates in cold water.
I don think that proof of rinsing the plates is the issue here Neal. Even if they did prove it, it would not be sufficient grounds for dismissal. All these cases have one thing in common, the employers need to have a documented procedure, and demonstrate that it has been followed to the letter, otherwise they lose.
And it would have cost you even more money than its cost them.
If he hadn’t been sacked, this restaurant probably would’ve been on Journal.ie’s next list of restaurants that had been closed for poor hygiene standards… :D
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