A building worker broke his ankle in a fall while breaking into his employer's building site to "steal time", a judge in the Circuit Civil Court held yesterday.
Judge Liam Devally said Joe McAleer's £30,000 claim for personal injury damages against his employer was "one of the most bizarre" cases he had come across. Judge Devally said Mr McAleer, of Aylesbury, Tallaght, Co Dublin, who worked for Ellen Construction Ltd, went to work at a building site at Erne Street, Dublin, on March 2nd, 1998. His job had been to service two bricklayers but he had also arranged a "nixer" for cash on another building site nearby.
Judge Devally said Mr McAleer left Erne Street at 5 p.m. to do the nixer and 1 1/2 hours later he returned to his employer's site to get a lift home. At this stage, he decided to break into the site, thereby gaining pay for 1 1/2 hours to which he had not been entitled.
Judge Devally told Mr Diarmuid O'Donovan, for Ellen Construction Ltd, Main Street, Blessington, Co Wicklow, that Mr McAleer's description of the manner in which he had fallen had not made sense. "He furtively squeezed through a narrow opening into an area in which he was a trespasser," the judge said. "He must have been aware of the general configuration of the area, which was not one he would normally traverse unless he was doing something furtive."
Dismissing his claim for up to £30,000 damages, including £1,750 loss of earnings, Judge Devally held that Mr McAleer had injured himself while stealing 1 1/2 hours' payment to which he was not entitled.
Mr McAleer had claimed that his ganger had been aware of his absence to do the nixer, but this was denied by the company. He said that as he was re-entering the site he was walking on a beam when he stepped into an uncovered hole, twisting his knee and breaking his ankle. He had been off work for 12 weeks.
Mr McAleer alleged that Ellen Construction Ltd had failed to provide him with a safe system and place of work, had failed to take adequate precautions such as covering the hole, had not provided adequate lighting and had kept the site in an untidy and dangerous state.
On Mr McAleer's evidence alone, the judge said he could not make any award, and he ordered that he bear the legal costs, totalling about £7,000.