Worker accused of sexual harassment wins job back

A supervisor at a contract cleaning firm has been reinstated in his job, following a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) decision that he was unfairly dismissed in 2023.

The employee in question, who was dismissed almost two years ago, was fired following an accusation of sexual harassment. However, the WRC has now ruled that the employer breached the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, having relied on “flawed procedures and hearsay evidence” as the basis for the dismissal.

The WRC found that the three managers who collectively decided on dismissal had not seen the CCTV footage of the alleged incident, which occurred in the reception area of a client company’s gym. In fact, it came to light during the investigation that the client company had refused to hand over CCTV of the incident, which the WRC described as “concerning”. Úna Glazier-Farmer, the WRC adjudicator in the case, said that the fact that no-one raised the lack of CCTV as an issue raised “serious questions about the objective fairness of the investigation”.

Ultimately, the employer’s failure to consider crucial evidence in the investigation, and to jump straight to dismissal without following sufficient procedures, was considered a “knee-jerk” reaction and “entirely disproportionate” by the WRC.

Reinstatement and Reengagement: What’s the difference?

When employers think about issues surrounding dismissals, they often think about avoiding legal feels and reputational damage – however, it is also important to bear in mind that if an unfair dismissal case is taken against your business, and is won, you may also have to deal with the reinstatement or reengagement of that employee.

If an employee is reinstated, they have the right to be treated as though they were never dismissed, as well as the right to be repaid for any earnings lost from the date of the dismissal.

Re-engagement, on the other hand, works slightly differently. Re-engagement gives the employee the right to get their job back, or to a different position which would be reasonably suitable with regard to all circumstances. However, it does not entitle the employee to backdated compensation for loss of earnings. Re-engagement usually occurs when the adjudicator in the case feels that the dismissal process was unfair, but that the employee also contributed to the dismissal. The decision to grant re-engagement is also contingent upon whether it has been deemed possible that the bond of trust could be restored between employee and employer.