The HR department of KBC Bank has been criticised by an adjudication officer at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after a man with a conviction was allowed into the bank's workforce.
The man was taken on by KBC in July 2017 in spite of background checks that revealed he had been convicted of an offence in 2015, something which should have seen him subject to disqualification.
"Unfortunately, the HR administrator dealing with these checks was a temporary employee and did not bring the result of those checks to the attention of the relevant HR business partner," WRC official Jim Dolan said.
He said the way the bank’s HR personnel managed the checks “was at best . . . sloppy and reports of this important nature should not be left to junior temporary administrators”.
Mr Dolan said: “I would recommend that the Respondent’s senior HR personnel look at this process to prevent the like of this happening again.”
Mr Dolan made his comments in a ruling that found that the man, a contract worker, was not unfairly dismissed. Mr Dolan said it was felt “that no dismissal has taken place” and “therefore I cannot disagree with the arguments” presented by the bank’s representative.
The man commenced work as an agency worker in July 2017 on a fixed three-and-a-half-month contract. On learning on November 8th of the man’s prior conviction, which would have prevented him from being hired in the first place, the bank instructed him not to come to work the following day.
The man was paid his full salary until the last day of his fixed-term contract, November 30th, 2017.
