An Arranmore Island co-operative worker who claimed she was forced out of her job, alleging its then-chairperson “slighted” her in public with a remark about “cute hoorism”, has failed in a constructive dismissal case.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has rejected a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Comharchumann Oileán Árainn Mhór CTR by Fiona Glynn in a decision just published.
The community organisation, which operates sporting facilities, holiday homes, a cafe and a cultural centre on the Co Donegal island, had wholly denied the claim.
Its solicitor said its defence was “hampered” by the fact that the worker had “wiped thousands of emails” from the organisation’s systems before quitting in August 2022.
Ms Glynn said what brought about her resignation was that she had been “publicly rebuked” by the then-chairperson of the Arranmore co-operative.
Her evidence to the WRC was that the chairperson “slighted” her by making “a reference to ‘cute hoorism’ in a context regarding [her] in a public place”.
She characterised the chairperson’s language as “undermining and divisive”.
The complainant told the WRC she did not use the organisation’s grievance process before resigning because a “previous disagreement” with another colleague dating back to 2020 had been resolved by mediation.
She alleged she was being “bullied” and “did not feel safe about reporting” the issue. The co-op’s position was that it was “unaware” of any outstanding issues, the WRC heard.
The co-operative’s solicitor, Seán Boner, put it to Ms Glynn in cross-examination that she “drew the maximum sick leave allowable before resigning, then left and claimed constructive dismissal”.
Ms Glynn replied that she was “trying to consider matters”.
Mr Boner also pointed out in a legal submission that Ms Glynn “wiped thousands of emails” from the employer’s systems before she quit and hampering the co-op’s defence of her claim.
Ms Glynn said the emails were linked to her personal account, her credit card or personal phone and that she was not satisfied with the organisation’s data protection protocols.
Asked whether she could put forward “any concrete example of engaging with the [employer’s] grievance procedure” she “was not able to provide any example”, the WRC noted.
An employee of the co-op’s funding authority said in evidence that she spoke by phone with Ms Glynn and that the complainant “had made her mind up to leave”.
Adjudicator Conor Stokes wrote that Ms Glynn could not “simply disregard” a formal grievance mechanism and go on to claim constructive dismissal.
“The issue of the complainant deleting thousands of emails before she left further undermines her position that she was left with nowhere else to turn other than resignation,” Mr Stokes added.
He said it would have been reasonable for Ms Glynn to “exhaust all avenues open to her” before quitting, and ruled that she “was not unfairly dismissed” for that reason.
