Traveller accused of stealing door by his employer awarded €4,000 for discrimination
Darragh Mc Donagh
A labourer who claimed he was victimised by his employer after being accused of stealing a door has been awarded €4,000 for discrimination on the grounds of his membership of the Traveller community.
He had been hired in April 2023 by a contractor who carried out retrofitting and maintenance work on social housing properties.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard that “all was going well” until a door went missing from a house around four months later. The tenant of the property happened to be the man’s sister.
The complainant had been tasked with delivering the door to the property, and work at the site was held up for a number of weeks as a result of it going missing.
He claimed that his employer accused him of stealing the door and repeatedly asked him where it was. He told the WRC that he would not steal a door – “especially not a door that was meant for my sister’s house”.
The man claimed that his employer’s attitude towards him changed after that incident, and alleged that a foreman told him that the contractor wanted him and his cousin – who was also an employee – out.
He said they were constantly watched by other workers, and were not permitted on site unless a foreman was present. The contractor argued that this arrangement was in place for health and safety reasons.
Deserted site
When other workers were transferred to new locations, the complainant and his cousin were left with no work to do on a deserted site for three-and-a-half weeks without any interaction with other employees.
He also alleged that they were ordered to do dangerous jobs on roofs without harnesses or safety equipment, having been threatened with dismissal if they failed to comply.
The man produced video evidence of working on a roof without safety equipment, and told the WRC that “one wrong step” could have resulted in him falling to his death.
He claimed that both he and his cousin were dismissed on September 15th, 2023, with a foreman telling them that their jobs were gone “because of who you are”.
The respondent contractor denied discriminating against the complainant, and claimed to have been unaware that he was a member of the Traveller community until it received correspondence relating to his complaint in December 2023.
Evidence
However, this was contradicted by a foreman who gave evidence for the respondent at the WRC adjudication hearing. He stated that he was aware that the complainant and his cousin were members of the Traveller community when they were hired.
In her decision, WRC adjudication officer, Orla Jones, said the complainant had come across as credible and consistent in his evidence.
By contrast, she said the respondent’s witnesses had given some conflicting and contradictory evidence in relation to certain matters. It was also later discovered that another employee had taken the door, exonerating the complainant.
She found that the complainant had been discriminated against on the grounds of his membership of the Traveller community, and directed the respondent to pay him €4,000 in compensation.
