A Circle K worker who said his manager told him to “be a man” and supervise the cleaning of a bathroom where a homeless man picked up human faeces with his bare hands has been awarded €1,000 for harassment at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC)
The worker, Siddarth Thirunavukkarasu, was eventually ordered to clean up the rest of the mess, despite the fact that he felt unwell, the WRC was also told.
Mr Thirunavukkarasu brought a complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 against Circle K, where he was employed as a shop supervisor at its Belgard filling station in Tallaght, Dublin 24.
He stated in his statutory complaint that he was “bullied and discriminated against” by a manager at the store, Julita Howe, when he was “forced to clean human waste without proper training or equipment” on 14th May, 2024. Ms Howe disputed that she made the “be a man remark”, the tribunal heard.
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The claimant’s case was that after he discovered faeces in a customer bathroom, Ms Howe confronted “the person in question”, a homeless man who was outside the filling station.
Mr Thirunavukkarasu submitted that Ms Howe “threatened to report [the homeless man] to the Garda if he didn’t clean it” and that the man “reluctantly agreed”.
He said that despite complaining of discomfort and nausea due to the smell, his manager “insisted” Mr Thirunavukkarasu supervise the homeless man in the bathroom.
The complainant said he was experiencing “nausea” because of the smell, and that his discomfort was heightened when he saw the homeless man “handling the mess with his bare hands”.
Ms Howe instructed him to give the man gloves and a blue towel and “hold the toilet door open and watch” to “ensure it wasn’t smeared everywhere”, the complainant told the WRC.
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He said he refused again and told his boss he “could not stand the smell”. Ms Howe replied: “Come on, be a man,” Mr Thirunavukkarasu told the WRC.
His case was that Ms Howe “forced” him to watch the man clean while she “stayed away” and avoided the situation. Ms Howe eventually ordered him to clean up the rest of the mess, despite the fact he felt unwell, the tribunal heard.
Dajana Sinik, of the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (IBEC), appearing for Circle K, submitted that Mr Thirunavukkarasu had failed to exhaust internal company procedures, as he had filed his claim with the WRC in September 2024 while its investigation was still going on.
The grievance investigator, company human resources (HR) officer Sara Murphy, found that the “be a man” remark attributed to Ms Howe could not be substantiated as there was no witness to the exchange and Ms Howe “disputes this claim”, Ms Sinik said.
However, an assistant store manager, Zahida Mustaq, had confirmed to the investigation “that Ms Howe’s behaviour and language were indeed inappropriate” and that Mr Thirunavukkarasu was asked to clean the toilet because the homeless man had not done so “adequately”, the tribunal heard.
Ms Murphy did conclude that the manager “should have recognised that the homeless man was not of sound mind to carry out this task properly”, it was submitted.
“Asking the complainant to take over – despite him voicing his concerns and expressing his discomfort – was not in line with the [company’s] dignity and respect policy,” Ms Sinik further submitted.
Ms Sinik told the WRC that the company had a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment and had acted reasonably by investigating the complaint. She said it had met its obligation to “take reasonably practicable steps to prevent and address harassment”.
The tribunal heard that prior to raising his formal grievance, the complainant had asked for a transfer back to a different Circle K store in Tallaght, which was granted.
Adjudication officer Jim Dolan concluded that there was “no act of discrimination or victimisation” against Mr Thirunavukkarasu.
However, he wrote in his findings that the manager “told the complainant when he objected to escorting the drunk man in cleaning the toilets: ‘Come on, be a man’”. Mr Dolan said it was “very difficult to disagree” with Mr Thirunavukkarasu’s case that this amounted to harassment, and ordered Circle K to pay €1,000 in compensation.
