I was burned by a hot rasher, worker claims

A FEMALE worker has told a court that she was bullied at a restaurant and at one stage was burned when a hot rasher was placed on her arm.

The dispute at the Labour Court concerned Samantha Murray’s claim that she was constructively dismissed from her employment after resigning because of alleged bullying by another member of staff.

Ms Murray was employed by Marinuda Ltd trading as the Fire & Stone Eatery in, Stepaside in Dublin 18.

She states that she reported the matter to her employer who took no action. As a consequence, Ms Murray says that she had no choice but to leave her employment and was thereby constructively dismissed. Last year, a rights commissioner found that she had been denied fair procedures by her employer, upheld the complaint and recommended that she be paid €1,000 compensation.

The firm appealed the decision to the Labour Court. In her case, Ms Murray claimed that she was consistently bullied by another member of staff and that she was pushed, suffered verbal abuse and on one occasion was burned when a hot rasher was placed on her arm.

Ms Murray said she reported the matter to her manager who took no action to investigate the complaints or to protect her from the bullying and harassment. In reply, the restaurant denied that any bullying had taken place. The restaurant’s owner stated that there was no more than a normal level of banter taking place and that Ms Murray was participating in it along with the other staff.

The restaurant also stated that the duty manager would have investigated the complaints and found no evidence to substantiate them. The restaurant also stated that there was no need for Ms Murray to resign. Instead, it argued that she should have tried to resolve her issues with the person in question.

In its ruling, the Labour Court upheld the recommendation of the rights commissioner to grant an award of €1,000 to Ms Murray.