A bakery entrepreneur has denied swearing at a worker before sacking him for absenteeism shortly after the employee suffered a family bereavement.
“You’ve been treating me like a dog, basically, all the [time] I’ve worked for you,” the worker told his former boss at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
The tribunal was hearing a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by baker Andrew Morris, who said he was “fired” over the phone from Realbread Wholesale Ltd on November 10th, 2023, where he had worked since July the previous year, earning €16.50 an hour.
His former boss, bakery entrepreneur Patrick Ryan, said Mr Morris “has the ability, but not necessarily the drive, the ambition, or the reliability”.
He said Mr Morris changed recipes to make work “easier”, was “constantly” late and offered “excuse after excuse” for his timekeeping.
Mr Ryan said he issued Mr Morris with a verbal warning in October 2022, though Mr Morris disputed that.
The tribunal heard Mr Morris’s uncle had died around this time, with the complainant excused from work to attend his funeral on November 2nd. Days later, his father fell ill and was hospitalised, the tribunal was told. “I was struggling with my mental health… there was a lot going on,” Mr Morris said.
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He claimed Mr Ryan changed the shift start from 8am to 7.30am, and that when he protested that he could not make it in for that time, his boss told him: “Just be there”. Mr Ryan maintained the start time at the bakery was “always 7.30am”.
Mr Morris also said he told Mr Ryan that he was “going through a hard time” by phone on November 10th, 2023.
“He didn’t care. ‘You’re gone’ – that’s it, just hung up the phone,” Mr Morris said.
“You’re saying I stood over you in front of other staff members and swore at you – that did not happen,” Mr Ryan said in cross-examination.
“You were shouting at me. I said why are you shouting at me. You said: ‘Because you don’t f***ing listen.’ I said: ‘You’re right beside me, I can listen,” Mr Morris said.
Mr Ryan then said “I don’t give a f***, it’s all about the bread. I don’t care about you,” he claimed.
“I dispute that claim,” Mr Ryan said.
“Of course you do. I’m not making this up. I knew you’d come in here and say that; you’ve been treating me like a dog, basically, all the [time] I’ve worked for you,” Mr Morris said.
Mr Ryan replied: “If I’d no respect for you, I’d not have taken you back in July [2022].”
Adjudicator Úna Glazier-Farmer will issue her decision in writing to the parties in due course.
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