The Workplace Relations Commission has recommended €5,000 compensation for a barista who quit after being told she was “too friendly” with her customers.
An adjudicator at the employment tribunal decided that her employer had created an “unsavoury and undermining work environment” for the worker.
It was after she was “ambushed” with “serious accusations of misconduct” in January 2025 and subjected to a “punitive” transfer to another branch of the cafe, the adjudicator concluded.
The non-binding recommendation was on foot of a complaint by the worker against her former employer under the Industrial Relations Act 1969. The WRC hears such cases behind closed doors and publishes the decisions without disclosing the identities of the parties.
READ MORE
The worker had been employed by the cafe for over two years when she returned from her Christmas holidays on Friday 27 December 2024 to be met by what she called a “hostile environment”.
She said her employer complained about the level of Christmas sales and addressed the worker and other staff “in an unfriendly manner”.
The following Friday, 3 January 2025, the barista said her employer had her stay back after her shift, without notice, for a meeting at which she was “accused of misconduct, including losing the business money”.
Among the allegations levelled at the barista were claims by the employer that there were insufficient Christmas sales; that the worker was undercharging and giving away free items, giving away too many loyalty stamps, and accepting gifts.
She said she was told she was “too friendly” with her customers and that she was “no longer welcome” at the branch she had been working at.
Her employer informed her that she would be transferred to another branch of the cafe and that she would be “watched closely” there.
The worker said that having arrived and set to work during her first shift at her new work site, her employer then demanded she stop work and join her for a “private discussion”.
The worker refused, stating that she “no longer felt comfortable engaging alone” after their meeting the Friday before, she said. She told the employer she was prepared to engage either “in writing or on neutral ground with an agreed witness”, she said.
As she continued her work, steaming milk, she said the employer “pulled [my] arm down”, she said. She told the employer “not to touch” her and repeated that she would not participate in the meeting.
Her employer then said she was “the boss”, that the worker could not refuse the meeting, and threatened to report her to the gardaí, the worker said.
She said it was a “humiliating and frightening” incident and that she had been “intimidated, bullied and physically threatened in front of colleagues and customers”.
The employer’s position was that it had concerns about what it classified as “staff theft”, which was defined in its company handbook as “charging customers less than the listed price, giving away food or drink without payment, providing unauthorised discounts, or permitting staff or customers to receive items for free”.
Annalee Brazel of Peninsula Business Services, appearing for the employer, submitted that the business had “informally reminded” the worker of this after “observations that she was undercharging and giving away items”.
Ms Brazel said the employer was engaged in a only an “initial investigation” and “fact-finding exercise” on 3 January 2025, when she submitted that the worker “admitted that she had on occasion charged customers less than the listed price, sold products at reduced prices near the end of their shelf life, and given away leftover items for free”.
The transfer to another branch “was not a punishment” but a “temporary step” while the matter was being investigated, and that it was agreed with the worker.
The company position was that it wished to continue the “ongoing fact-finding process” on 7 January as “part of a legitimate and appropriate process”.
The employer denied to the WRC that any “bullying or intimidation” took place on that occasion and further denied grabbing the worker by the arm.
Adjudicator Tom O’Driscoll noted that the worker had been called in to meetings without advance notice of the issues on the agenda on two dates – and without any chance to prepare or arrange for representation.
“These meetings were initiated by management in circumstances where serious allegations of misconduct were made. The worker was, in effect, ambushed with accusations and denied the safeguards which are fundamental to a fair investigation process,” he found.
He said he was satisfied the transfer to another branch “amounted to a disciplinary sanction” and was done without “any proper or impartial investigation”, or following company processes.
He added that he preferred the worker’s account of what happened on 7 January over the employer’s and concluded that the employer’s actions “constituted unfair treatment”.
“The combination of repeated confrontations without notice and the imposition of a punitive transfer created an unsavoury and undermining work environment for the worker,” he concluded.
Noting that the worker quit the job shortly afterwards, he concluded that the job was made “untenable” for her as a consequence of the treatment she received.
Mr O’Driscoll recommended the employer pay compensation of €5,000 “in recognition of the distress and loss” caused to the barista.
