When a new manager, or management team, take over a business there are usually some changes involved. Some may come in the form of operating procedures but some may come in the form of behavioural or cultural changes within the Business. It is acceptable to draw a line in the sand and say that these behaviours will no longer be tolerated and must be eradicated, however how a Company deals with this must be measured and reasonable.
In the case we have highlighted below a Tribunal agreed with the Company that the behaviours must be eradicated however the actions they took to do so were seen as being too severe and the employee awarded almost €50,000 in compensation.
The issue at hand in the case of Employee -v- Employer (UD1863/2010), concerned a practice called "wetting" where an employee was pushed into the middle of a chemical shower (high-powered shower that released 350 litres of water) and this was posted to social networking site, YouTube.
The employees involved were reprimanded and claimed that this was a common practice in the business and one which was never questioned before. The Manager who was in charge that day who was also involved was dismissed, whereas the others received final written warnings. A side issue was that the logo of a prominent customer could be seen in the video and the Company worried about the impact this would have on their business.
The Tribunal in this case felt that the employer was correct in their view that this conduct was unacceptable and needed to be eradicated, and within rights to discipline for such behaviour. However the Tribunal also felt that this behaviour could have been eradicated without the need for dismissal, and that the employee would have cooperated with the Company to do so, and it was unreasonable to impose a harsher penalty by virtue of the fact that he was the person in charge (all the more so when another employee who was involved was later put in charge following the employees dismissal).
The Tribunal found in favour of the employee and awarded €44,000 for unfair dismissal and a further €5,799.06 for lack of notice pay.
What an employer can take from this is that it is fine to put your stamp on a business and look to get rid of problem behaviours or practices, but the penalty for someone engaging in this must be proportionate and reasonable given the circumstances.
