There was no option but to sack a Luas fares inspector who threw a punch at a young passenger after allegedly being the subject of racist comments, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has said.
The man took an unfair dismissal action after losing his job over the incident on August 24th, 2015 at the Cowper stop in south Dublin. He had worked with the company from 2008 and was sacked in November 2015 for engaging in what the firm described as actual or threatening physical violence against a passenger.
The WRC heard that on the night in question Luas trams were busy with large numbers of young men fuelled by alcohol who were generally being difficult.
Case adjudicator Penelope McGrath said six statements taken from Luas employees showed that “lads were being abusive and using foul language and racial slurs particularly pointed at the complainant”.
Ms McGrath said a significant number of these youngsters had no tickets but were disinclined to get off the tram or identify themselves when asked. She said the fares inspector and his colleagues had the unenviable task of challenging non-ticket holders.
Ms McGrath said she had watched CCTV footage of the incident “over and over”. In it, the inspector is seen hustling the young male, referred to as Mr L, off a tram and raising his right arm and taking a swing.
She could not be sure if contact was made but Mr L said he was struck on the back of the head. A colleague of the ticket inspector said he heard the young male saying “Pakistani, you hit me” or words to that effect.
Mr L denied being racist. He said he was with friends that evening and accepted that some of the people with whom he was travelling were not ticket holders and were asked to leave. He said he did have a ticket.
Mr L had contacted the Luas firm the following day to complain about the incident and an investigation commenced.
Intimidated
The fares inspector gave evidence that he had felt intimidated and in fear for his life and that Mr L had gesticulated threats to him.
The fares inspector said he had received a lot of conflict management training from his employer but it was not enough in circumstances where he would be abused on an almost daily basis, with racial abuse sometimes forming part of it.
Ms McGrath said she accepted the inspector was “being subjected to an unacceptable level of racial and other abuse” at the time and that a cohort of passengers was “behaving in an appalling way”.
However, she said the difficulty was that the fares inspector could provide no evidence to suggest that the male seen on CCTV throwing a punch “was part of this general behaviour”.
“Even if he was, I cannot see how an employer can countenance an employee going on the offensive and throwing the first punch,” she said.
Ms McGrath said that “termination was the only option” for the firm. “Once an employee whose job it is to interface with the public every day has been shown to allow himself to get so riled up as to take a swing at a member of the public, the employer is bound to question the employee’s suitability to perform the job in which he has been trained.”
