NCT inspector fired for testing his own car 3 times
Andrew Barron had believed his dismissal was too severe a sanction and brought a case against employer, Applus Car Testing Service Limited, trading as NCT, to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
However, in its determination of the case just published, the tribunal pointed out Mr Barron had been given an opportunity to give evidence, but declined to do so on the grounds that it would be too stressful.
The tribunal said it was satisfied the company had discharged the burden of proof and found, in all circumstances, the dismissal was fair.
Officials of the company had told the hearing in Dublin, earlier this year, all employees received a copy of the code of ethics which acted as a guide to workers in a business that relied on trust.
The code made it clear an employee was not permitted to test any vehicle owned or previously owned by the employee.
Workers at the test centre are advised to notify the team manager if they are presenting their vehicle for testing — all employees may have their vehicles tested free of charge.
An internal audit report identified Mr Barron as the owner of a vehicle and identified his initials as the inspector on the vehicle inspection report. Once it was confirmed he had passed a visual inspection of his own vehicle at the Mullingar centre, an investigation meeting was arranged.
His team leader had tested the vehicle originally on February 6, 2013, and the report indicated that a visual re-test was required. The second report was also dated February 6 and initialled by Mr Barron.
At the investigation meeting, the inspector admitted breaching the code of integrity and the breach was presented as a one-off incident.
Following the meeting, the regional manager carried out a further check and identified two further incidents where Mr Barron carried out a re-test on a vehicle of which he was the registered owner, in May 2009, and a full test on a vehicle owned by him in August 2011.
He offered no explanation when the allegations were put to him.
