NCT test operator ordered to pay out €30,000
Applus Car Testing Service, which operates National Car Test centres on behalf of the Road Safety Authority, has been ordered to pay €30,000 in compensation for the unfair dismissal of the employee.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal rejected evidence by senior managers at Applus that staff were not encouraged to bring in cars for testing to fill vacant slots at its centre in Little Island, Co Cork.
Richard Hoban, a former administrator at the centre, was fired for gross misconduct in November 2012 after he admitted driving cars that were not his own to the centre, for testing — in breach of the company’s code of integrity.
However, Mr Hoban, of Norwood Park, Cobh, Co Cork, said he had regularly driven vehicles to the centre, on the instructions of his manager, Michael Long, to fill slots that had become available due to late cancellations.
According to the claimant, the practice ensured that vehicle inspectors met quotas for a productivity payment. Mr Hoban also said he didn’t stand to gain, as he was not an inspector and could not influence the test results.
He said it was common practice at the Little Island centre, and he provided Applus with the names of four other employees, including Mr Long, who brought in cars, for testing, that did not belong to them.
The company’s regional manager, Eamon Conlon, who oversaw the disciplinary process against Mr Hoban, admitted to the EAT that he had never asked Mr Long about the issue.
When questioned subsequently, by another senior manager, Mr Long denied ever having asked Mr Hoban to bring cars in for testing and said he was unaware of any such practice in Cork.
However, the three-person tribunal said it unanimously accepted the evidence of Mr Hoban and it described Applus’ disciplinary process as “seriously flawed” and breaching fair procedures.
“The fact that the claimant openly engaged in the practice, that there was no financial gain to him and that he could not influence the test results, lead the tribunal to accept the claimant’s evidence that he had been instructed and/or encouraged by his manager to do so and that it was a common practice in centre A [Little Island],” said tribunal chairperson, Kate T O’Mahony.
The tribunal also accepted Mr Hoban’s claim that such practice was longstanding.
It added: “The failure to interview the manager, whom the claimant had alleged instructed members of staff to engage in the practice and who was one of the four employees who had been named as engaging in the practice, was not only a fatal flaw, but is indicative of a sham investigation.”
During a hearing earlier this year, Mr Hoban gave evidence that he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of working at the centre.
He also observed that during a training period in Dublin, he came to realise things were “done differently” at the Little Island centre.
It is the third case in recent years in which Applus have lost an unfair dismissal case, in an action relating to the testing of vehicles linked to staff members.
