UP TO 30 staff working at the Avondale nursing home were not paid their final salary by the owners, who appear to have left the country amid serious allegations by some residents of theft.
The staff, several of whom were whistleblowers who alerted the health watchdog to concerns for the safety of residents at the home, have now lost their jobs following the closure of the home.
One nurse who contacted The Irish Times yesterday said salaries due to be paid on July 20th – a day before the home was closed following the intervention of the Health Information and Quality Authority – were never paid into employees’ bank accounts.
“I rang her [Miriam Holmes] first thing in the morning and she said we were to be paid by cheque . . . none were paid,” said the nurse, who did not want her name published.
Papers filed with Carlow District Court show staff complained to the authority that they were not paid their final salary. The Health Service Executive agreed to take responsibility for staff salaries from July 21st – the day they took over the home – to enable existing staff to “oversee the orderly and safe discharge of residents”.
“We have lost our jobs now and nobody has any references for the work we did. Yet quite a few staff complained to the authority that things weren’t right at the home. We also worked hard and did our best to keep residents safe,” said the former nurse at Avondale.
Trade union Siptu, which is representing seven workers who allege they were constructively dismissed from the home, said the Government needs to pass legislation to protect whistleblowers.
“People shouldn’t have to consider whether they will end up on the dole for blowing the whistle to protect old people,” said Louise O’Reilly, sector organiser at Siptu.
Two former employees recently won constructive dismissal cases at the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Ms O’Reilly said compensation was now unlikely to be paid because the home was out of business and the owners’ whereabouts were unknown.
Several relatives of nursing home residents also alerted the authority to concerns for the safety and wellbeing of residents.
Maria Ronan, whose uncle Billy lived at the home for a decade, told The Irish Times she made a complaint to the authority in May following an incident when her uncle fell out of bed and hurt his hand.
“I always had concerns about the home . . . They told me he was okay when he fell out of bed. But when I visited him his hand was in an awful state. I had to tell Miriam to get a doctor. The next day he was in Dublin for treatment,” said Ms Ronan. Ms Ronan said Miriam Holmes would ask her for “petty cash” of about €300 to pay for toiletries and other essentials for her uncle. “This was on top of the €800 per week charge for staying at the home,” she said.