A former charity administrator has alleged his questioning of certain payments was “fundamental” to his selection for redundancy last year by the organisation.
The claim was aired before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) at a preliminary hearing into a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by Phillip Beattie against Protestant Aid.
Mr Beattie alleged that in the course of his work he audited the affairs of a nursing home and sought information about who had received two cheques.
“I did not receive proper evidence of who received the money in these cheques,” he told the WRC. “From that point onwards, the bullying was instigated by the entire organisation.”
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He claimed this led to him becoming the target of a “systematic redundancy” and “the fundamental crux of the entire matter is those cheques”.
The claim was met by a separately-registered charity, the Brabazon Trust. Its barrister, Emma Davey, said Mr Beattie’s remarks should be “struck from the record”.
Earlier, Ms Davey told the tribunal that Mr Beattie had named the “incorrect respondent” when he made his complaint against Protestant Aid.
She argued that Mr Beattie was a contractor providing accountancy technician services for Protestant Aid between 2021 and 2022, but was “never an employee”.
He had later held an “entirely different” role as an administrative support officer with Brabazon Trust, she submitted. Ms Davey also said more time would be needed for the respondent to prepare legal submissions.
Mr Beattie countered that Protestant Aid, the Brabazon Trust and the nursing home in question were all “under the same umbrella” and “run by the same person”.
The respondent’s position was that Mr Beattie had lodged his claim a fortnight too late for the WRC to have jurisdiction in the matter. Ms Davey called on the adjudicator to direct the “submissions in relation to the preliminary points alone”.
Urging the adjudicator to resolve the matter on the basis of the jurisdictional matters raised, she noted the respondent was a charity and said the legal fees “could very well be put into something else”.
Mr Beattie referred to “some technical issues on the website” and said as he had been paid his “final wage” on May 31st last, he believed his Unfair Dismissals Act complaint of November 21st last was still within time.
Ms Davey submitted that in the event the tribunal found cause to extend jurisdiction to 12 months, it would run from November 2023 to last November.
Of the “nine incidents of bullying” alleged in Mr Beattie’s complaint form, the first five were outside that period, the sixth and seventh were partially statute-barred, and only the eighth and ninth alleged incidents could be considered by the WRC, she submitted.
WRC adjudicator Donal Moore said “the key” for him was whether or not Mr Beattie had been unfairly dismissed or not.
“Anything about bullying and harassment – it’s just not relevant here,” he said.
He has adjourned the matter to a future date.
