Galway City Council has been ordered to pay €25,000 compensation to an employee over what a Workplace Relations Commission official described as “one of the worst cases of bullying I have seen.”
The WRC ruled that the local authority had breached the Employment Equality Act 1998 by discriminating against a council road sweeper, Thomas Greaney, by failing to provide him with reasonable accommodation for a disability.
WRC official, Jim Dolan, said the handling of the complaint by Mr Greaney had been managed poorly by Galway City Council.
Mr Greaney, who joined the council in 2019, claimed he was subjected to bullying and harassment by his supervisor which caused him to suffer stress and anxiety.
The WRC heard that the supervisor, Gerry Daly, made a complaint to a foreman on January 13th 2021 that Mr Greaney was not doing what he was asked to do.
It was the start of several complaints made by Mr Daly against his colleague.
Mr Greaney claimed he was unable to properly fulfil the role as he did not receive proper instruction from Mr Daly.
The WRC heard that Mr Greaney initiated a grievance procedure that he was being bullied into carrying out tasks which were improper and unsafe to do,
He pointed out that he had been asked to remove bicycles from a particular area of Galway on the basis that Mr Daly said he an e-mail had been received directly from City Hall about it when that was not the case.
Mr Greaney said he would have been putting himself at risk by causing a conflict if he removed the bicycles as he believed they were Christmas presents belonging to children in the area.
The WRC heard that a council found two grievances submitted by Mr Greaney were substantiated but nine others were not and it was recommended that a mediator be appointed to resolve issues between the two employees.
However, a formal investigation was sought by Mr Greaney, although an independent investigator was not appointed for another seven and a half months.
In relation to the bicycle issue, the investigator noted that it was “not an appropriate dictate” by Mr Daly to send a relatively new operative into “a very difficult environment on his own which could have turned into a case of a potential backlash for him.”
The investigator observed it was Mr Daly’s specific responsibility to ensure the health and safety of his staff and the withholding of relevant information from Mr Greaney about the potential difficulties he might face was “a neglect of duty.”
While Mr Greaney welcomed the upholding of his complaint about which he was notified in February 2023, he said he suffered ongoing stress as he did not know what was going to happen next,
In November 2023, he was informed that the council was implementing recommendations made by the assistant director of services, Brian Barrett, based on the investigator’s report and the investigation was now closed.
However, Mr Greaney said he was not informed what the recommendations were or what they would mean for his future conditions of employment.
Mr Greaney said he had not been moved away from working with Mr Daly until after the investigation was closed and he still met him in the workplace.
He claimed his colleague continued to intimidate and bully him through words or gestures and would be laughed and jeered at.
Lawyers for Mr Greaney said the deterioration of the complainant’s health due to stress and anxiety as a consequence of his treatment in the workplace constituted a disability under the legislation.
A representative of Galway City Council argued that Mr Greaney had not established what if any specific treatment he had been subject to and had never raised any issues relating to a disability or sought specific reasonable accommodations.
It claimed the complainant had not established any prima facie case of discrimination in the six months prior to Mr Greaney submitting his complaint to the WRC which it maintained was the cognisable period.
The council disputed Mr Greaney’s evidence and claimed he was moved to a different role and no longer reported to Mr Daly since May 2022 after it became clear that their relationship had broken down.
In its ruling, however, the WRC said the duration of two years and eight months to conduct an investigation to finality was “far too long.”
Mr Dolan said a reasonable accommodation for the disability caused by the treatment which Mr Greaney was receiving from his supervisor could have been something as simple as separating him from Mr Daly and reassigning him to work in another area with the council.
“This did not happen,” he said.
Ordering the council to pay the complainant compensation of €25,0000, Mr Dolan said it was aware since May 2023 that Mr Greaney was suffering from health complaints arising from his work situation.
