A pharmacist who claims he was forced out of a €112,000-a-year job because former TD Kate O’Connell and her husband were working him “to death” has denied raising his voice and becoming “aggressive” when she pulled him up on using his phone at work.
In a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, Marwan Al Rahbi has alleged that he was constructively dismissed by Rathgar Pharmacy Ltd – having been forced to quit in order to protect his health after a diagnosis of workplace stress, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) was told.
The company, which is owned and operated by Mrs O’Connell and her husband, has pharmacies in Kilmacud, Rathgar and Sandyford in south Dublin. It denies the complaint.
Mr Al Rahbi in evidence to the WRC on Tuesday: “They were working me to the death. One of the reasons to resign was to protect my health and mental health. I couldn’t sleep at night, and I have a family. I provided them many opportunities to resolve things, and they didn’t,” he said.
His barrister, Cillian McGovern, appearing instructed by Crushell & Co Solicitors, said his client had written to his employer raising a formal workplace grievance in May 2024, referring to “several concerning incidents”, but was met with “blanket denial” from Mrs O’Connell, and that the matters were not addressed by the firm.
The WRC heard that Mr Al Rahbi initially complained about Mrs O’Connell to her husband after she found him using his mobile phone at work on one occasion early in 2024. Mr Al Rahbi said Mrs O’Connell had come up to him and said: “Are you not working?”
Mr Al Rahbi’s evidence was that despite a directive on mobile phone use at work, the pharmacy group operated five or six WhatsApp groups where work-related information was circulated. He said he was using his phone on that occasion because he was “dealing with my sick child” at the time.
The complainant said he then phoned Morgan O’Connell about what had happened. At the time, Mr O’Connell was waiting in hospital for his wife to collect him following shoulder surgery, the tribunal heard.
“I rang Morgan, and he said: ‘Go the f*** back to work’,” Mr Al Rahbi said. His position was that it showed that the likely outcome of any workplace grievance he raised with Mr O’Connell about his wife, or vice versa, was going to be “unfair”.
Mrs O’Connell told the WRC on Tuesday that Mr Al Rahbi was “insubordinate” towards her on April 15th, 2024. “It was the flying off the handle at me ... it was extremely unusual for a support pharmacist to verbally attack their senior pharmacist, their boss, in front of other staff,” she said.
She said Mr Al Rahbi was “very on edge, agitated, aggressive”, Mrs O’Connell said, adding that she “instinctively” moved to the far side of a bench during the incident. “I do remember I said to him: ‘If you think you’re going to hit me, that’s not going to go very well for you’, as he wagged his finger and shouted in my face,” she added.
When counsel for the respondent Derek Dunne, instructed by Kelly Hoban Solicitors, put it to Mr Al Rahbi in cross-examination that he had been “aggressive” or “confrontational” with Mrs O’Connell, he said: “No, I haven’t been aggressive. This is my way to speak.”
Questioned on a further interaction with Mr O’Connell in the pharmacy a number of days later, Mr Dunne, put it to Mr Al Rahbi that he had “refused to acknowledge Mrs O’Connell as your immediate superior”.
The complainant said Mr O’Connell was “shaking” and “screaming” at him, quoting him as saying: “‘Say Kate is your boss.’”
“I said: ‘Why should I say that?’” Mr Al Rahbi said.
He said Mr O’Connell then told him he was to put his phone in the kitchen. “We are not in school. I have a family. I am a responsible adult,” he said. “He was screaming: ‘Are you continuing to use the phone?’” he added.
Counsel put it to Mr Al Rahbi that Mr O’Connell had given him a verbal warning on that occasion. Mr Al Rahbi said it was “five minutes of shouting” and that “turning up shouting and angry at me” was “not a verbal warning”.
Mr Al Rahbi said Mr and Mrs O’Connell raised mobile phone use as an issue with him at a review meeting later in May 2024. “I was trying to answer; they didn’t allow me to speak.”
He said he wanted to discuss his overall working hours, rostering during Ramadan, the contract he had been presented with and the question of a pay rise, but that these were not addressed by the couple. His evidence was that Morgan O’Connell told him: ‘You are here just to listen, not to speak.’”
The employer’s position is that Mr Al Rahbi told his bosses he was quitting the job with a week’s notice. Mr Al Rahbi said Mr O’Connell told him he was “dismissed” but that he had not been sure whether that meant from the meeting or from his employment.
The tribunal heard Mr O’Connell wrote to Mr Al Rahbi a few days later: “You were not dismissed by me, you were offered a renewal of your contract under the same terms and conditions.” Mr O’Connell added in his email that he was “an employer of 20 years” and was aware that a dismissal was meant to be in writing.
In her evidence, Mrs O’Connell told the WRC that Mr Al Rahbi “said he was quitting” at that stage. “I distinctly remember Morgan saying: ‘We’re going to offer you the same contract and the same terms and conditions.’ He [Mr Al Rahbi] said: ‘I quit.’ We said: ‘When?’ He said: ‘I’m leaving in a week.’”
Mr Al Rahbi’s complaint stated that he reached “breaking point” during a 12.5-hour shift on June 19th last year.
The tribunal heard the pharmacy followed a four-three shift pattern on a 28-day rotation, with 12.5-hour daily shifts.
Mr Al Rahbi said he had agreed with Mrs O’Connell in September 2023 that he would have reduced hours for Ramadan in 2024.
Adjudicator Andrew Heavey has asked Mrs O’Connell to produce working-time records.
The adjudicator has adjourned the case pending the arrangement of another date for the hearing in the autumn, when it is expected Mr O’Connell and an employee of the pharmacy group, Sarah Lynch, will give their evidence.
