A firefighter who accused a senior officer of bullying with snide remarks about his weight and driving ability and by allegedly instigating the removal of kit from his locker has won €15,000 for penalisation on safety grounds.
Cian Donohoe, a shopkeeper employed part-time as a retained firefighter in Cavan County Fire Service, had brought a complaint of penalisation under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 which has been upheld by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
A solicitor acting for Mr Donohoe said his client joined the fire service part-time in 2016 and that “all was well” in his client’s employment until the arrival of a new station officer, Joey McDonald, in 2019.
Mr Donohoe’s case was that he was subject to a pattern of “bullying behaviour, intimidation and harassment” in the form of a number of incidents “initiated by his station officer”. One aspect of the behaviour was that items were taken from his locker, including a flashlight and specialist gloves, he told the tribunal.
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He said he was also refused leave “without good reason”, he said.
He approached the former chief fire officer in Co Cavan, Noel O’Reilly, to make an informal complaint in April 2022, the result of which was that Mr Donohoe took an eight-month career break at the chief’s suggestion.
Mr Donohoe claimed that the informal grievance was mismanaged however, and said that the bullying resumed and got worse when he got back from his career break in August 2024.
His case was that the station officer tried to harass and belittle him, cast “negative aspersions” about his performance, and put him in “more dangerous positions on call-outs”.
He said his relationship with the station officer was “very icy” at this time. One evening at work, Mr McDonald “stood the team to attention” and told them he would “prefer them to come to him if they had issues”, Mr Donohoe said.
There were also “snide remarks” about his weight and driving abilities, he said – issues which “might seem petty” but amounted to a mounting “pattern”, Mr Donohoe said.
At a one-to-one meeting in May 2024 with Mr McDonald, Mr Donohoe said that the station officer became aggressive, raised his voice and pointed his finger at him.
The chief fire officer was “out the door” and Mr Donohoe “would be next”, the complainant quoted the station officer as telling him.
He said he and another firefighter were “singled out” for investigation on the basis that they lived too far from the station. He said he thought the station officer “was trying to get me sacked” after taking issue with his place of residence.
Following the meeting, Mr Donohoe’s doctor certified that he was suffering from work-related stress, and he went absent on medical grounds, the tribunal heard.
The tribunal heard Mr Donohoe then proceeded to lodge a formal grievance in June 2024.
In January 2025, while he was still out on certified medical absence, a video of Mr Donohoe was circulated on the fire station’s WhatsApp group, in response to which Mr McDonald made a “derogatory comment”, the tribunal heard.
The comment was not reproduced in the WRC decision. Mr Donohoe’s position was that it showed that the station officer’s attitude towards him was “negative, intimidatory and undermining”.
It was “a continuation of the bullying” while he was out sick, isolated him from his colleagues, and made him a “figure of derision”, the WRC was told.
Former chief fire officer Noel O’Reilly gave evidence agreeing with the complainant’s account of coming to him in April 2022 and reporting that he believed Station Officer McDonald was behind the taking of the gloves and torch.
He said it was more of a “conversation” than a “complaint”, but agreed that the matters were “within the range of what would be bullying”.
The adjudicator, Roger McGrath, dismissed some aspects of Mr Donohoe’s complaints, but found the firefighter had raised a safety complaint upon reporting to the chief fire officer that his gloves and torch were taken and stating his belief that the station officer was behind it.
“I found [Mr Donohoe’s] testimony to be sound and I have no doubt in his genuine belief in the story he told. I also accept the bona fides of Chief Fire Officer O’Reilly,” Mr McGrath wrote. “Tellingly, Station Officer McDonald did not attend the hearing to give evidence. His input would have illuminated the matter,” he added.
He made a finding that station officer Mr McDonald “said things to the complainant which amounted to coercion and/or intimidation”, amounting to a detriment under the legislation.
He accepted the complainant’s undisputed evidence that station officer Mr McDonald “took umbrage at him having informally complained” to the chief fire officer.
“The taking of a firefighter’s personal equipment is not a trivial matter,” Mr McGrath wrote. The gloves were personal protective equipment and the torch was “an important tool” for a firefighter. Mr Donohoe might have made do by borrowing from a colleague but “should not have to do so”.
“PPE is personal for a reason,” the adjudicator wrote.
He upheld Mr Donohoe’s penalisation complaint and awarded him €15,000 in compensation.
Mr Donohoe was represented by solicitor Damien Rudden in the case. Keith Irvine of the Local Government Management Agency appeared for Cavan County Council, the employer in the case.
