Latest news with #workplacerelations
Irish Times
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Former Bohemian FC coach David Henderson is awarded €26,000 after ‘ruthless, sham' redundancy
A tribunal has made a maximum-compensation €26,000 award to former Bohemian FC coach David Henderson over his dismissal from the League of Ireland premier division club. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found he was subjected to a fabricated allegation of misconduct when the club 'got rid' of him in a 'ruthless and dishonest' redundancy last winter. An adjudicator from the WRC found there was 'no evidence' to back up claims by the Bohs management that the club's finances were in trouble to the extent it had to get rid of the ex-player and coach, who was drawing wages of just €250 a week. In a decision published on Wednesday, the tribunal found The Bohemian Football Club CLG to be breach of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 on foot of a complaint by Mr Henderson over his dismissal by telephone on November 30th, 2024. READ MORE Giving evidence to the tribunal, the club's president had said a budget review process last October and November concluded that 'cutbacks' were needed at the club in 2025 and had 'looked at the complainant's position'. The club president said Bohemians had booked 'significant losses' in 2023 and had projected losses for 2024 - with a decision made at an early November 2024 board meeting that the role of 'recruitment' was not needed. After the board meeting, he instructed the club's director of football to tell Mr Henderson his 'services were no longer required and were being dispensed with'. Adjudication officer Christina Ryan said that when she questioned the club president he could not confirm the date of the board meeting. He also confirmed that Mr Henderson 'was not put on notice' of potential redundancies at the club, had no opportunity to take part in a consultation process and had 'no forewarning' of the phone call on November 30th ending his employment. Mr Henderson told the commission he had been involved with the club at various stages as player, scout and coach – and since 2023 had been head of recruitment, goalkeeping coach for the men's first team, coach for the women's team and chief scout for the Bohemian FC academy. He said the director of football first referenced 'a budgeting issue' when he phoned to remove him from his post. When he replied that this 'did not make sense', given all he did for the club for €250 a week, the director of football then mentioned 'anonymous verbal complaints and a historic letter of complaint', he said. Mr Henderson said he had been given 'no prior warning, investigation or opportunity to respond before his dismissal' and that 'multiple requests' for details of the allegations and 'supposed letter of complaint' had gone unanswered. Under questioning from the adjudicator, the club president admitted 'no letter of complaint ever existed'. Mr Henderson said he had such concerns for his reputation and professional standing, given he worked with underage and female players, that he wrote to the Football Association of Ireland's safeguarding department asking it to pursue the matter – with the FAI's child protection officer confirming there was no letter. He said if the allegations did exist then he wanted them formally investigated to ensure fairness to himself and any potential complainants. In her decision on the case, Ms Ryan wrote: 'These allegations were a gross fabrication designed to, for whatever reason, get rid of the complainant.' She said the club had not been able to 'substantiate the assertion that the financial position of the respondent was such that it would justify the redundancy or the role of recruitment'. It had, in fact, presented 'no documentary evidence' on its financial position, Ms Ryan said. 'It was apparent that the complainant remained involved in football at League of Ireland, college and grassroots level because of his love of the game of football. He was not only an employee of the respondent but a former player, and the treatment he was subjected to by the respondent was shocking,' she said. Ms Ryan said the dismissal was 'nothing more than a sham redundancy carried out in a ruthless and dishonest manner without a single thought for the personal damage the respondent was inflicting on the complainant'. She awarded Mr Henderson €26,000 in compensation – and said it was the 'upper limit' that she was in a position to award.
RNZ News
16-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Minister Brooke van Velden on possible sick leave cuts for part-timers
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker A bitter pill is on the way for some employees as the government looks to cut sick day entitlements for part time workers. At the moment everyone get 10 paid days a year. Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said earlier that she was looking at changes that would make leave proportionate to the number of hours worked. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report he knew it was something Minister Brooke van Velden was looking into. "She looks at a whole raft of workplace relations," Luxon said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
15-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Government looking at cutting sick leave entitlements, Christopher Luxon says
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon makes a tourism funding boost announcement at Auckland Airport. Photo: Marika Khabazi The government is not ruling out reducing the amount of sick leave workers receive, hinting at possible cuts for part-time workers. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked during an interview with Morning Report whether his government was looking at reducing the number of leave days from 10 to five. "That's something that I know [Workplace Relations and Safety Minister] Brooke van Velden is looking into. She looks at a whole raft of workplace relations," Luxon replied. "It's a bit premature for now." Currently, all workers, full-time, part-time or casual are entitled to 10 days of sick leave if they have been with their employer continuously for six months, and have worked an average 10 hours a week, and at least one hour in every week or 40 hours in every month. Workplace Relations Minister Brooke Van Velden. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Workers can accumulate up to 20 days of sick leave, which means it is possible to carry over 10 days of unused sick leave into the next year. "There is probably a need for us to look at it, for sure, and just make sure that we've got that setting right, particularly around proportionate sick leave for part time workers versus full time workers," Luxon said. "Brooke is looking at a package of things around workplace relations, as you've seen already this year, and she will continue to look at that." Luxon told Newstalk ZB some changes were coming though on workplace relations and there was likely to be an announcement on sick leave, but he did not say when. National promised during the last election campaign it would not reduce the number of sick days employees receive. The number of sick days was increased from five to 10 by the previous Labour government in 2021, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. National wasn't supportive of the changes at the time. Workplace Relations Minister and ACT MP Brooke van Velden has been working on a draft bill that could make sick leave entitlements proportional to the hours someone works . She said changes in the draft bill could include pro-rating sick leave "to better reflect how much an employee works". "Workplaces that rely on part-time workers are particularly vulnerable to unexpected staffing shortages. To explore this issue further, the exposure draft set for consultation will include a proposed approach to pro-rating sick leave, to better reflect how much an employee works," she said last year. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Irish Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Karen's Diner ordered to pay former employee unpaid tips
An ex-employee of theme restaurant Karen's Diner has secured a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruling that she is due hundreds of euro in unpaid tips, in the third such decision against the chain. The international theme restaurant chain, which is marketed an interactive dining experience with 'rude service as part of the performance', opened its doors on O'Connell Street, Dublin in 2024. The worker, Carenin Rosa De Oliveira, quit her job at Karen's Diner after going six months without receiving her share of the money, which she was meant to receive according to her ex-employer's tipping policy, she told the WRC. It seemed to her that the 'non-payment of the monies owed was accumulating with no end in sight', she added. READ MORE The worker's further evidence was that there was 'a general unease among staff concerning the non-distribution of tips and gratuities and service charges'. Her employer 'knew that there was a problem, but kept putting off making any payment', she added. [ Karen's Diner: 'Sit down and shut up!' one waiter shouts as I eat my flavourless burger Opens in new window ] Roberta Urbon, of human resources consultancy Peninsula Business Services, appeared for the restaurant. Her submission was that the business 'concedes there are some monies owed', the tribunal recorded. Adjudication officer Penelope McGrath wrote in her decision that the respondent had failed to provide evidence on how the money owed to Ms Rosa De Oliveira ought to be calculated and therefore had not 'repudiated' the worker's claims. Ms McGrath noted the complainant had told her she 'could not give an exact figure' and had 'erred on the side of modesty' in bringing her claim for that reason. 'I accept that the complainant, who gave very compelling evidence, is only looking for what she says ought to have been paid to her in the course of her employment,' the adjudicator added. She upheld three separate complaints by Ms Rosa de Oliveira under the Payment of Wages Act, awarding her a total of €796 for the breaches. In decisions issued in March and April this year, the restaurant's management was directed to pay over €1,200 to two other staff on foot of similar complaints. It had not appeared before the tribunal in response to either of the previous claims. The decision published on Tuesday in favour of Ms Rosa De Oliveira brings the total sum awarded to former staff of the restaurant to €2,014. Another former employee, Maria Wilkinson, said in evidence to the tribunal that was told the service charge paid by customers would be 'divided between all employees' and that she had expected that to be worth €1,000 to €2,000. However, she said she never got any share of that. The adjudicator in that case concluded that there were 'significant tips' being generated by the restaurant but that 'whatever became of the tips is not clear except to the extent that neither the complainant nor her co-workers received any of them'. He awarded Ms Wilkinson €1,018.40, four weeks' wages, for a 'breach of her rights' under the Payment of Wages Act. Sarah Butler, a member of floor staff who worked at the restaurant from January to March 2024, secured €200 in compensation for the non-payment of cash tips in her final week of employment. Ms Butler had also sought compensation for electronic tips she said were not paid to her going back to the start of last year, but that aspect of her complaint was ruled out of time.
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Midday Report Essentials for Thursday 15 May 2025
Pacific children 6 minutes ago In today's episode, the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden has refused to have regular meetings with the Council of Trade Unions and has ruled out undoing the Pay Equity Changes, Labour is defending not condemning a newspaper column about pay equity which used the c-word in reference to female ministers, a new report has revealed New Zealand has the highest suicide rate for children out of the world's wealthy countries, at a rate of almost three times higher than the average, the C-Word has taken up a lot of attention in the last 24 hours after the workplace relations minister Brooke van Velden enunciated in Parliaments debating chamber, and a year on from the New Caledonia deadly riots the country faces deep division over the territory's political future.
