In February 2013, the Complainant commenced employment with RCI Call Centre (Ireland) Ltd, a holiday exchange provider. The Complainant was employed at RCI’s call centre in Cork, where he worked as part of RCI’s Italian team. In April 2016, the Complainant was involved in an argument with a colleague which resulted in a disciplinary investigation conducted by the Operations Manager. This culminated with the Complainant being sanctioned with a final written warning. He appealed to Head of Operations but was unsuccessful.

In December 2016, the Complainant ran into further trouble when he referred to a customer as an “impolite animal”, resulting in a heated exchange between the Complainant and a number of his colleagues. The Respondent conducted an investigation