€24k for woman bullied at work

A woman who had to leave her job due to bullying by a colleague has been awarded €24,000 by a tribunal.

Kathleen Hegarty’s work situation became so bad in 2011 that she was afraid to turn up at her job with Clare Civil Engineering Ltd and her home life was also affected.

She told an Employment Appeals Tribunal in Ennis that she was badly treated by her colleague for some time and her work life became so difficult that she complained to her manager on March 31 about being bullied.

Ms Hegarty said her manager told her it sounded like she was being bullied and that he would take advice on the issue. He subsequently told her that he had a word with her colleague, but the situation only worsened and the manager never contacted her again.

She put her complaint in writing on May 3, but got no response and eventually went on sick leave. She never returned to work with the company.

Her doctor certified her as suffering from severe stress and she attended four sessions with a psychiatrist.

She felt she had no option but to leave her employment and to consider herself constructively dismissed in October 2011.

The tribunal heard the company only became aware of the problem on March 31 and the manager denied that the term bullying had been used.

The manager was mostly based in an office away from where Ms Hegarty worked, but said he had spoken to her colleague, who had denied any wrongdoing.

The tribunal found Ms Hegarty was entitled to consider herself dismissed in October 2011.

Making the award of €24,000, the tribunal found she was unfairly dismissed from her job.