A chef who had to evacuate the Workplace Relations Commission with his solicitor because of a hoax bomb threat during his case has won a claim for constructive dismissal against a Dublin restaurant group.
The employment tribunal has upheld a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by Norman Tanju, the former development chef at PBR Restaurants – operator of the Fish Shack restaurant chain in the capital.
Mr Tanju, who said he was left with no choice except to quit in November 2022 because the company did not address complaints about attempts by the firm’s new management to put him to work on weekend kitchen shifts in Malahide instead of working Monday to Friday at its head office in Stillorgan.
The company denied the claim, with its representative, Billy Wall of Peninsula Business Services, arguing there was a “clear and unambiguous” contract for Mr Tanju requiring his attendance at any of five different locations in Dublin.
Mr Tanju’s solicitor, Barry Crushell, said his client “strongly objected” to being moved from the firm’s head office in Stillorgan on Dublin’s southside to the firm’s restaurant in Malahide in the north of the county. It meant a difference between a five-minute walk from Mr Tanju’s house and a commute of between 90 minutes and two hours, it was submitted.
A grievance process followed, rejecting complaints by Mr Tanju. The following month the chef, who was by then absent from work on medical grounds due to workplace stress, was told he had failed to send in medical documents sought by the firm. It considered his absence “unauthorised”. Mr Tanju then resigned.
In his decision, adjudicator Michael MacNamee said the way the company handled the dispute was “inadequate and unfair”; that the worker’s complaints were dismissed “peremptorily” and that he had met the standard for constructive dismissal.
He awarded €13,269 for realised and future loss of earnings from dismissal.
During a hearing at Lansdowne House, Dublin 4 on 27 July 2023, a member of WRC staff came to the hearing room and told Mr MacEntee: “We’re evacuating the building.” Those in attendance learned as they left that there had been “a bomb threat to the Department”.
An Garda Síochána later said a security alert which saw Lansdowne House and other Department of Enterprise buildings in Dublin that day was a “hoax”.
There is no suggestion the alert had any connection to Mr Tanju’s case.
He is the third ex-employee of the firm to secure an award under the Unfair Dismissals Act since the exit of its founder Padraig Hanley from the business, with two of Mr Hanley’s sons securing €50,000 between them.
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