By Gordon Deegan
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has recommended that an agricultural worker, accused of mistreating a cow in a milking parlour, receive €500 for his unfair dismissal.
The worker claimed at the WRC that he had only given the cow a ’slap’ to move it along.
This was after, he claimed, that the cow had kicked and crushed his father who was also an employee.
The father and son were milking cows in the farm’s milking parlour on the date of the incident on January 16, 2020. The son had commenced employment at the farm on November 21, 2019.
However, WRC adjudicator, Thomas O’Driscoll said that he preferred the evidence of the employer who said that he became angry after he saw the agricultural worker excessively beat a cow with a milking cluster.
The employer told the WRC that animal welfare is important and considered the actions of the employee to be an act of cruelty.
WRC findings
The WRC adjudicator found that the employer “gave a credible account that he saw his animal being mistreated”.
O’Driscoll stated:
“Whereas the employee submitted that he only gave the cow a ‘slap’, I am more inclined to believe that there was more than that involved.”
The adjudicator also stated that both parties agreed that there was a verbal altercation, which led to the termination of employment.
“It is difficult to conclude whether such ‘heat-of-the-moment’ situations are clearly resignations and/or dismissals. I conclude that it was a mixture of both,” the adjudicator said.
Manner of dismissal unfair
In his findings, Thomas O’Driscoll commented that the manner of the termination was unfair in that the employer did not carry out any of the requirements that a reasonable employer would carry out in such a heated situation.
The adjudicator found that the employee was not blameless in this situation and stated: “There was a credible account given of mis-treatment of an animal and, furthermore, he did not deny that he shouted he was going to elsewhere for higher wages.
“I, therefore, find that there was an unfair dismissal but that the employee contributed significantly to his dismissal.”
The recommendation to pay the worker €500 is not binding on the employer, as the case was taken by the worker under the Industrial Relations Act.
The worker was precluded from taking a case under the Unfair Dismissals Act as he had worked on the farm for fewer than 12 months.