Courts

Long-time care volunteer wins €61,000 WRC award for rights breaches

Man in his 70s had claimed the taxpayer saved €1.1m from his unwaged work at a centre in the midlands

A man in his 70s who spent decades as an unwaged volunteer has secured an award of €61,000 for rights breaches. Photograph: Collins
A man in his 70s who spent decades as an unwaged volunteer has secured an award of €61,000 for rights breaches. Photograph: Collins
Stephen Bourke
Fri Mar 08 2024 - 12:43

A man in his 70s who spent decades as an unwaged volunteer aiding the disabled with care and music therapy until he was “expelled” from a centre in the south-east following a HSE takeover has secured an award of €61,000 for rights breaches.

John Clark told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that yearly costs at the charity had risen from €3 million during the time of volunteer co-workers to €11 million under a new staffing model.

Mr Clark told a hearing two years ago he believed he saved the public purse €1.1 million by working without an income for the course of his career.

He said he expected to be let stay on at the Camphill Communities of Ireland community in Ballytobin, Callan, Co Kilkenny, when he reached retirement age, with its financial support and care lasting “until death” in return for dedicating his career to it.

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“That’s what I signed up for 38 years ago, and that’s what I expected,” he told the commission, giving evidence to a hearing nearly two years ago.

Mr Clark had claimed care charity Camphill Communities of Ireland either unfairly dismissed him or failed to pay him his due redundancy following major reforms to the organisation starting in 2017 that saw long-serving unpaid volunteers replaced with paid staff.

Mr Clark said he was “expelled” and was left with nothing but a non-contributory State pension, and had to rely on his partner and his housemates for financial support.

Giving evidence to a hearing on March 28th, 2022, the complainant said he started volunteering in Scotland in the early 1970s before completing several years of training and came to Ireland in the early 1980s to become a full-time volunteer at Ballytobin.

He worked there until 2017, carrying out music therapy, care duties, teaching, training and aiding with physiotherapy exercises, he said.

He also organised festivals and events for residents and oversaw the construction of a new assembly building for the community, he said.

He did not receive either a salary or hourly pay for his work, but had a credit card to pay personal costs under a “needs-based” support system that also provided accommodation, food and travel costs – all of which had to be vouched for with receipts.

His evidence was that the average the charity spent on volunteer expenses, including food and lodgings, was €15,000 a year – but that he would have drawn more because of the nature of his work.

“If we bought a Mars bar, it was receipted. If we bought a sofa, it was receipted. It went into one of those various columns and was approved,” he said.

He said he was “unfairly suspended” in the summer of 2017 after the HSE takeover when a matter that had been “thoroughly investigated in 2011″ was reopened by the centre’s new operators.

This meant he had to leave the community for 53 weeks during an internal investigation into the allegation – the details of which were not opened to the hearing – which was followed by an independent inquiry.

He said he met former Camphill CEO Ann Sheehan, and Joe Lynch, who had been appointed chief operating officer, to discuss whether he could “go on in some capacity” as a caretaker at Ballytobin at one point.

He agreed with his barrister, Stephen O’Sullivan BL, appearing instructed by solicitor Michael Lanigan, that there was no disputing that his engagement with Camphill ended in 2018.

The charity, which was represented by solicitor Sarah Conroy, maintained Mr Clark’s had stated to it in writing in December 2018 that he did not want “formal employment” and had himself stated he was “never employed”.

The charity’s CEO disputed in her evidence that Mr Clark’s pay would have been worth €45,000 a year as he claimed and said the worker would have been given a €15-an-hour job as a tutor if he had transitioned to an employment contract, or €23,000 a year.

Camphill’s view was that Mr Clark “did not satisfy” the legal tests for employment status, but in a decision published on Friday, WRC adjudicator Anne McElduff disagreed and accepted that he was entitled to pursue his employment rights claims.

Ms McElduff awarded Mr Clark €60,000 for loss of earnings on foot of a breach of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, finding the charity had dismissed him where there was probably no redundancy situation and without fair procedures.

The adjudicator also awarded €1,000 for a breach of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 for the failure to provide a written contract.

As there was no redundancy, Ms McElduff rejected Mr Clark’s claim under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967.