WRC says sacking waitress after negative TripAdvisor comment 'is not far short of mob rule'

By Gordon Deegan

A restaurant boss sacked a waitress on the spot as a result of a customer posting a negative comment on TripAdvisor complaining that “the red-haired waitress was abrupt”.

The woman - who also worked 'front of house' at the restaurant - sued for unfair dismissal and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has upheld her claim and ordered the restaurant to pay her €2,000 compensation.

The restaurant boss told the WRC that he accepted the waitress’s version of events around the dismissal but that he also received two other complaints from customers and in addition, received about 20 complaints from other members of staff about their colleague.

The boss accepted at the WRC that he did not inform the waitress of these other complaints when sacking her.

In a hard-hitting ruling, WRC Adjudication Officer, Máire Mulcahy said that the use of the TripAdvisor comment and the 20 alleged complaints “is not far short of mob rule in the workplace” when the waitress was not offered the opportunity to examine the truthfulness of them.

Ms Mulcahy stated that the 'vox-pop' type comment on TripAdvisor that ‘the waitress with the red hair was abrupt’ which the restaurant used as the reason to dismiss her “is very far removed” from the concept of ‘substantial grounds’ to warrant a dismissal as required by the Unfair Dismissal Act.

Ms Mulcahy goes on to state that the waitress’s description of how her dismissal occurred is not in dispute.

The Adjudication Officer said:

There was no disciplinary procedure in the workplace. There was no process. No advance notice, no examination of the alleged complaints, no opportunity to be accompanied at the meeting which resulted in her dismissal, or right of appeal was afforded to the complainant.

Ms Mulcahy stated that the waitress was deprived of any process conforming to the requirements of natural justice.

The waitress told the WRC that she believes that the real reason she was dismissed is because of the support she offered her boss’s partner in the break- up of that relationship.

The restaurant boss stated that the waitress was not happy in the job, that other staff observed this and she also worked part-time with another company.

The WRC report on the case stated that the restaurant boss has apologised to the waitress for his behaviour.

The waitress in the case however has had the ‘last laugh’ on her former employer when she secured alternative employment as a front of house person at wellness centre last December at a salary of €30,000 - more than a four-fold increase on the €6,985 she earned in 2017 before her summary dismissal on October 2, 2017.

In her evidence at the WRC, the waitress said that she previously had no indication of either customer or management dissatisfaction with her work.

She said that was not given any opportunity to respond or to appeal the decision to dismiss.

She said that the restaurant did offer to pay her minimum notice but only if she would sign a statement that she would take no further action.

She refused to do this, not wishing to compromise the pursuit of redress for the unfair dismissal.

Since the submission of her complaint to the WRC, the restaurant has paid the woman’s notice and for the extra hours worked.