By Gordon Deegan
Donegal Meat Processors dismissed two meat factory workers involved in a knife incident at a plant where one of the workers sustained “a significant injury”.
The dismissal by the firm of the two emerged in a Labour Court ruling, which has found that the decision by the meat-processing firm to dismiss one of the men, Gavin Nicell – in August 2018 – was not unfair.
Chairman of the Labour Court, Kevin Foley, found that the injured party in the case had sustained “a significant injury”.
Nicell initially sued for unfair dismissal at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), which found in his favour and ordered the meat firm to pay him €2,500 compensation.
However, Donegal Meat Processors, trading as Foyle Donegal, appealed that WRC decision, which has now been set aside by the Labour Court.
Nicell told the Labour Court that he accidentally cut a work colleague’s hand with a knife in the meat processor’s boning hall on July 27, 2018.
Nicell stated that he had pushed his colleague away from him because the colleague had alcohol taken and was making it impossible for Nicell to do his work.
Donegal Meat Processors told the Labour Court that the man who suffered the injury was separately dismissed as a result of the incident.
The injured party claimed, at the time, that he had sustained two severed tendons in his hand in the incident.
Nicell – employed at the company since March 2003 – accepted that while his conduct fell short of what should have been expected of him, the sanction applied to him was grossly disproportionate.
In the court’s findings, Mr. Foley stated that, concerning the safety-critical nature of the work upon which Nicell was engaged, and the company’s comprehensive health-and-safety policies, the court accepted that Donegal Meat Processors was of the view that there were substantial grounds justifying the dismissal of Nicell.
Mr. Foley stated that the court was satisfied that the decision of Donegal Meat Processors to dismiss Nicell falls within the range of responses which could be expected of a reasonable employer in the circumstances.
Mr Foley stated that neither Nicell nor the injured party reported the incident to their employer on the day on which it occurred.
Donegal Meat Processors’ HR manager stated that Nicell had failed to take reasonable care to protect the safety, health and welfare of another employee by his act and by his omission to report the incident.
The HR manager argued that Nicell “had caused a serious injury to another employee and it was a critical failure that he did not report the incident” and, in his view, trust in Nicell was gone.
In the court’s findings, Mr. Foley stated that there is no dispute that the behaviour of Nicell on the day was in breach of the policies in place and did not reflect the training he had received.
Mr. Foley stated that Nicell had made allegations concerning the role of alcohol in the behaviour of the injured party.
Mr. Foley stated that such assertions were not capable of being established as fact by Donegal Meat Processors and that the court accepted the testimony of decision makers in the disciplinary matter that no weight was attached to this matter in arriving at the decision to dismiss.