Credit Union IT manager sacked for divulging passwords, three times
A credit union sacked its Information Technology (IT) manager after he divulged passwords for the credit union’s internal IT system on three separate occasions.
The IT manager sued for unfair dismissal and now the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found that “any reasonable employer would have dismissed him”.
WRC Adjudication Officer, Catherine Byrne stated “as an IT professional, the complainant’s conduct in divulging critical passwords is inexplicable and inexcusable”.
In February 2019, the IT Manager gave the administrator password to a colleague during a telephone call and Ms Byrne stated as an employee who was still on probation, “it would have been reasonable to dismiss the complainant then”.
Four months later on June 18th 2019, the IT Manager again provided an administrator password to a staff member in another office.
Three days after this incident, on June 21st, the IT Manager left written instructions in the credit union board room, with the administrator’s log in and encryption password for a new laptop.
Concerning the June 21st lapse, the IT manager explained “I wasn’t sure if those who would need access to the laptop would be checking their mails so I left a note…”
Ms Byrne commented: “This response demonstrates a complete disregard concerning who needed the information and who might unwittingly find it. It seems to me that again, with this incident, the complainant didn’t give his full attention to his job.”
Ms Byrne stated: “The incidents of June 2019 showed that he was not the right person for the job of IT manager in a regulated environment.”
The IT Manager was dismissed without notice on July 11th 2019 following an investigation.
The complainant had commenced employment with the credit union on April 30th 2018 and was recruited on an annual salary of €47,864.
In his defence at the WRC hearing, the complainant argued that his dismissal was unfair.
He claimed that, overall, he was doing well in his job and that the issues addressed during the investigation “could have been sorted out internally.”
He claimed that if he had known that he could be dismissed, he would have made a stronger case in defence of his actions.
