Man dismissed for using firm's account to buy drill and kegs of Guinness awarded compensation

The Workplace Relations Commission concluded that Mr Taylor had never acted with the intent to deceive or defraud the company, and had never sought to profit from either the drill or the kegs. File picture

A Donegal-based juice producer has been ordered to pay €14k in compensation to an individual after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found his dismissal under the guise of ‘gross misconduct’ was merely a product of “naïve” actions.

The complainant, Sterling Taylor, began working with Mulrines in Ballybofey, Co Donegal in 2014 and was dismissed 10 years later over accusations of theft, dishonesty, and fraud.

The basis for Mr Taylor’s dismissal stemmed from his purchase of a drill and one-and-a-half kegs of Guinness Zero. In both instances, the products were bought by Mr Taylor via a company account where he did not have to pay Vat on the product.

The drill was intended for a colleague’s use while the kegs were passed on to third parties for a charity event. Mulrines argued that the purchases and sales opened up the company to Revenue fraud.

Mr Taylor had purchased the products based on the advice of an employee in accounts, named ‘Mr X’ in the WRC hearing. Mr Taylor had often dealt with Mr X when purchasing orange juice from the company.

The WRC heard that Mr Taylor had never asked for the transactions to exclude Vat, and it was instead suggested by Mr X.

On December 11, Mr Taylor arrived in the office of company accountant Claire Hegarty and tried to hand her cash for the drill that was not purchased for the company's use.

She then contacted John Doherty, the company’s financial controller, as she was concerned about the transaction.

WRC ruling

The WRC concluded that Mr Taylor had never acted with the intent to deceive or defraud the company, and had never sought to profit from either the drill or the kegs.

In a disciplinary hearing labelled "biased and prejudged" by the WRC, Mr Taylor was dismissed from his position as a maintenance co-ordinator by Marc Smyth.

“The complainant had no prior warnings, and his long successful career was completely disregarded,” the WRC decision read. “He was at all times acting in a transparent manner and on the basis of information given to him by Mr X. 

"There was no theft and no dishonesty. No consideration was given to sanctions short of dismissal. On the contrary, Mr Smyth told him that it was ‘out of my hands’.”

Mr Taylor was never informed in writing of the rationale of the issues behind the disciplinary process, and the language of "out of my hands" used in his dismissal gave concern that the decision was pre-ordained and not worthy of appealing.

The person who took the decision to dismiss Mr Taylor was not present at the WRC hearing. Mr Taylor was out of work for seven weeks following his dismissal.