WRC cuts dismissal award to Penneys worker who called bosses ‘scrotes' in WhatsApp group
A tribunal has made a reduced award to a
Penneys
worker after finding her mostly liable for her own dismissal after she replied with two 'crying laughing' emojis when a colleague declared she would 'skull drag' a manager in a WhatsApp group.
The
Workplace Relations Commission
heard the claimant, Janine Halpin, also added: 'Hope she gets the s**ts for a year'.
She told company investigators her posts were 'a show of support' for a colleague who had just failed in an appeal against her own sacking.
Her trade union rep had argued that the allegations were 'beyond the realms of the workplace' as Ms Halpin was off work at the time and the messages were in an invite-only WhatsApp group.
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The tribunal has upheld a complaint against Primark Ltd (which trades under the Penneys brand in Ireland) under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by Ms Halpin, a part-time retail assistant, who was sacked for gross misconduct at the clothing retailer's store at the Square Shopping Centre in Tallaght, Dublin 24, on June 5th 2024.
An adjudicator ruled that the company had turned its investigation into an 'ambush' by handing Ms Halpin a letter just half an hour before calling her into a meeting to be questioned on screenshots from the WhatsApp group.
He cut the compensation awarded by 70 per cent due to her level of contribution and directed the company to pay Ms Halpin €1,277.64, which was less than four weeks gross wages rather than the four months' pay her trade union had sought in the claim.
The tribunal heard Ms Halpin had a final written warning live on her personnel file when she was called in for a company investigation in May last year.
The probe was launched after an anonymous tipster went to bosses at Primark with concerns about 'threatening' messages in an unofficial WhatsApp group called '052 Madness' – the number in the title being the internal store code for Penneys in Tallaght, the company submitted.
After another Penneys employee wrote in the chat that she had just failed to have her own dismissal from the company overturned on appeal, Ms Halpin wrote: 'Little scrotes not taken you back [sic],' the company submitted.
The other employee then went on to write: 'Gonna skull drag [a named manager] when I see her,' the submissions said.
Ms Halpin replied with two 'crying laughing' emojis and wrote: 'I hope she gets the s**ts for the next year.'
Asked if she believed her messages could cause offence to her colleagues, Ms Halpin said: 'Nope, no-ones names mentioned,' according to the investigation meeting minutes submitted by the company.
Adjudication officer Jim Dolan found the only flaw in the company's procedure was that it gave Ms Halpin just 30 minutes notice of an investigation meeting.
'This lack of notice turns the invitation to an investigation meeting into an ambush,' he wrote.
Although he found Ms Halpin's complaint well-founded, he ruled that she was 70 per cent liable for her own dismissal, and directed Primark to pay her €1,277.64.
Greg Caffrey of Mandate appeared for the worker in the case, while Primark was represented by Michael McGrath of IBEC.
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