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‘If I kill a family in the lorry, it’s down to you’ – Bord na Móna admits liability in driver’s working hours claim

Workplace Relations Commission hears allegation of excessive hours and inadequate rest periods, which company says was not the norm

Bord na Móna has admitted 'nominal' breaches of working time legislation in the case of truck driver Daniel Picton

Stephen Bourke
Fri Jan 12 2024 - 18:06

Bord na Móna has admitted “nominal” breaches of working-time legislation in the case of a truck driver who said he told his boss he was so exhausted he feared he would “kill a family in the lorry” only to be told: “Get out and do that run.”

The worker, Daniel Picton, told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Friday that he had been complaining to management about excessive hours and inadequate rest periods for more than six months at that point, describing the alleged incident as the “final straw” that led to him quitting and lodging a statutory complaint.

In complaints under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, Mr Picton said he averaged nearly 50 hours a week on the job for a whole year after starting work at Bord na Móna’s recycling depot in Rosslare, and that he was not afforded the 11 hours of rest required between shifts on 10 occasions between April 2022 and his resignation last summer.

The company has confirmed its records show Mr Picton worked an average of 48.9 hours a week in his final six months in the job and that he didn’t get enough rest between shifts on one occasion in July last year – but maintains the worker filed his complaint too late to pursue earlier alleged breaches.

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In a submission to the tribunal, Mr Picton said he had been expected to cover “all the loose ends” after starting as a cover driver and would find himself working in excess of 50 or 60 hours a week.

“I was told I had to finish these jobs, bins had to be collected, jobs completed,” he said.

He said when he complained internally he was told by both a health and safety manager and the human resources (HR) department that he was “wrong” about his hours. Mr Picton said another manager swore at him and said: “I couldn’t care less what you do. We’ll just take you to court, we’ve been to court loads of times.”

Proposals for alternative working arrangements to reduce his working hours were “refused” by that manager, Mr Picton added. The firm’s HR department prepared a number of reports and, during its deliberations, referred him to a doctor in Arklow, two hours’ drive away from his place of work, after which he was required to carry out his duties as usual, he said.

“Even though I was giving out about my hours, saying I was tired, I started work at five o’clock that morning and got home at seven o’clock that night,” Mr Picton said.

He said he reported to work the following day and, after doing one driving job, told his line manager: “I’m tired, I can’t go back out on a run, I’m absolutely knackered. If I kill a family in the lorry, it’s down to you.”

“The run has to be done, get out and do it,” was the response, the complainant said.

Mr Picton said there was no change to his manager’s position even after he protested further, and he did as he was told, only for the client to tell him the consignment “could have waited”, he said.

“I was literally crying out for help, they sent me to a doctor, I ended up doing 14 hours, I told the manager I was [afraid] I would run over a family. That was the final straw, I had to leave,” he said.

No witnesses were put forward to contradict Mr Picton’s statements by Bord na Móna, with its solicitor, Ciara McDermott of Arthur Cox, stating that the company was contesting the case on the basis of legal submissions only.

Ms McDermott said the pattern of work was not the norm in Bord na Móna and that Mr Picton “willingly worked and was paid overtime”.

She said the company’s clock-in system had been “temporarily inoperative” at material times and that the company was relying on and accepted the accuracy of the hours Mr Picton had provided to his line manager by text.

Ms McDermott said that over a six-month reference period between February and August 2023, Mr Picton had worked 1,175 hours and 45 minutes and had taken four days’ annual leave and six days’ sick leave. She said on that basis that his average working hours during that time period were 48.9 hours per week.

In a later submission, she said it had been above the statutory maximum by only 54 minutes a week on average, calling it “nominal”.

Ms McDermott said Bord na Móna was also admitting failure to provide a full 11-hour break to Mr Picton between his shifts on July 17th and 18th, 2023 in breach of Section 11 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, but maintained that the nine prior alleged breaches were beyond the WRC’s jurisdiction, even if the tribunal found cause to extend its jurisdiction to 12 months as permitted by legislation.

“The employer is forthrightly admitting the breaches of legislation, but we would be submitting that they were nominal and are not its ordinary practice,” she added.

The adjudication officer, Paul McKeown, concluded the hearing and will issue his decision in writing to the parties in due course.

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