Two BoI staff unfairly sacked over lewd emails

THE Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that two former Bank of Ireland staff were unfairly sacked over their role in circulating “offensive and disturbing” emails.

The EAT found that the bank had operated a flawed investigation into the use of such emails by its staff, It also found that its decision to sack the two female employees was disproportionate to any disciplinary offences they had committed.

The claimants, Sarah Murray, 25, from Ballybrack, Co Dublin, and Sarah Rooney, 25, from Glasthule, Co Dublin, who worked in the bank’s subsidiary, ICS Building Society, were awarded a combined total of €65,300 in compensation.

During a hearing earlier this year, the bank said it had taken disciplinary action against 10 employees over the circulation of emails of an indecent, obscene and pornographic nature.

It ultimately dismissed five workers, including the two claimants.

However, the EAT found that the bank’s investigation into the circulation of such emails was flawed as it confined itself to examining a small sample size of emails and had excluded the two women from the inquiry.

It also criticised the bank for not investigating any staff member who had deleted inappropriate emails.

The tribunal said such flaws resulted in the bank’s management excluding evidence which was both pertinent and relevant in terms of what sanction might be imposed on anyone in breach of its email policy.

In its ruling, the EAT said the abuse of the policy was widespread in ICS and breaches were being committed by staff at both the same and more senior grades than Ms Murray and Ms Rooney.

It also noted that no reputational damage was being done to the bank as a result of these breaches as well as the fact that neither Ms Murray nor Ms Rooney had ever been disciplined for any misconduct in the past.

The EAT concluded that the dismissal of the women was unfair as the sanction was “not a proportionate response” to the breach of the bank’s email policy.

However, the tribunal acknowledged that Ms Murray and Ms Rooney had contributed in equal measure to their own dismissal.

The EAT awarded Ms Murray €29,200 and Ms Rooney €36,100.