The Complainant contended that the difficulties he experienced with the School Principal and then the Board of Management stemmed from, and were directly linked to his making complaints about the treatment of children at the school. He had made complaints in writing to the Principal in 2018 and 2019 and received no feedback. In January 2019, he was disciplined and received a final written warning.

The Complainant was eventually suspended whilst the Principal conducted an investigation. The Complainant was not interviewed although the Principal took statements from other members of staff. She then made a report to the Board and the Complainant was called to a meeting where she was present and spoke at one stage at the meeting. The Complainant was very anxious at the meeting. He tried to explain his concerns about the treatment of children at the school. After the meeting he was informed he was dismissed.

In response to the claim of unfair dismissal, accepting that a dismissal had occurred, the Respondent stated that the dismissal was due solely to the conduct of the Complainant and was not connected in any way with complaints he had made about matters in the school. All disciplinary procedures were followed by the Respondent. The Complainant had the opportunity to have representation which he declined. The Complainant had received a copy of the disciplinary procedure before the stage 3 meeting, so he knew he could be dismissed after that meeting.

The Adjudication Officer determined that the construction of the investigation was flawed from the outset through the appointment of the school principal to conduct the investigation. The procedures followed by the Board in investigating the alleged misconduct of the Complainant could not, by any reasonable measure, be regarded as meeting the tests of ‘natural justice and fair procedures’. Once the procedure followed by an employer is found to be fundamentally flawed in failing to meet the standards of its own policy and fair procedures generally and specifically as in this case, a dismissal is unfair.  Therefore, the complaint that the Complainant was unfairly dismissed is well founded. Regarding a remedy, it is accepted that the bond of trust between the Respondent and the Complainant will not be restored to the extent of there being any prospect of a reasonable working relationship into the future. The appropriate remedy is compensation. Accordingly, the Complainant was awarded €10,000 compensation for his unfair dismissal and most probably his career as an SNA together with the loss of pension entitlements into the future.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2020/october/adj-00025023.html