A former employee of the Christina Noble Children's Foundation (CNCF) has claimed she was threatened by Christina Noble last year, following the emergence of serious financial irregularities at the charity.
Elizabeth Moran, who is pursuing a case for constructive dismissal against the charity, told an Employment Appeals Tribunal that the threat occurred during a meeting at the Lucan Spa hotel in Dublin.
She said that at an earlier meeting with Ms Noble's daughter, Helenita Pistolas, she was also subjected to a bag search and advised to leave her place of work. She was subsequently snubbed on the street by a fellow employee.
Due to her treatment by the charity, Ms Moran, who worked as a receptionist and general administrator until she left her post in June of last year, claimed it was impossible for her to return to work. This was despite receiving a letter from the foundation telling her she could do so, in July 2004.
The CNCF strongly rejects Ms Moran's claim for constructive dismissal, and says she had at no stage indicated her concerns about what allegedly had taken place at the meeting with Ms Noble. It says Ms Moran had been placed on a "holding suspension" as a result of "horrible circumstances" which had arisen at the charity, and which necessitated an investigation.
In her evidence, Ms Moran said that at the Lucan meeting, which took place in late July/early August last year, Ms Noble was "very abusive" and used threatening behaviour towards both her and another employee, who cannot be named for legal reasons. She said she was "very afraid" of Ms Noble's manner, and believed both she and the other employee were being called thieves. Ms Noble wanted both of them to resign "there and then", and indicated she would not go to the police if this happened, Ms Moran said.
However, Ms Moran refused to sign papers Ms Noble had with her, or to resign, because she had not "done anything wrong".
At the earlier meeting with Ms Pistolas on June 3rd, 2004, Ms Moran claimed she was also told that a number of accusations against the other employee had emerged. These centred around some €60,000 to €100,000 in missing funds from the charity.
At this meeting, Ms Pistolas had threatened that she would have the other employee "killed" and that the employee would be sent to jail for a very long time if she did not comply with her demands. However, Ms Moran did not specify in her evidence what these demands were. Ms Pistolas said she did not want the "finger of suspicion" pointing at Ms Moran and suggested it would be in Ms Moran's best interest to leave the office. However, counsel for the CNCF, Tom Mallon, said correspondence with Ms Moran's solicitors showed the CNCF invited her to return to work in July 2004.
After the June 3rd incident with Ms Pistolas, Ms Moran had received phonecalls that evening from then CNCF chairman Ronnie Delaney, as well as one from Ms Noble. In his evidence, Mr Delaney, who was overseeing the investigation into the alleged irregularities, said he was not investigating Ms Moran.