The incident took place at a coffee shop franchise in Dublin, where the worker said management had failed to address a “horrendous” period of bullying and harassment
05:00, 06 May 2026Updated 09:17, 06 May 2026
Lansdowne House, the offices of the Workplace Relations Commission in Ballsbridge, Dublin.(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins Agency, Dublin)
A café worker has been awarded €3,000 in compensation after claiming she was bullied by a supervisor who left her to “deep clean someone’s faeces-covered underwear” that were discovered in a bathroom.
The incident took place at a coffee shop franchise in Dublin, where the worker said management had failed to address a “horrendous” period of bullying and harassment.
She referred her complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), which heard that problems began in September 2024 when a supervisor abandoned his duties and left the worker to deal with the soiled underwear.
She recalled how she had been overworked and critiqued on “every little detail” while the supervisor was allowed to “laze around” and use his phone constantly.
During a busy shift in November 2024, the worker alleged that the supervisor “got in my face” and demanded she stop serving customers to focus on other tasks. She admitted that she “lost it” and said “f**k you”.
She claimed that he responded by “body blocking” her and nearly throwing himself into an oven to stop her from grabbing food. The worker told the WRC that she was left “sobbing and terrified”, and hid in the back of the shop.
The WRC heard that, when the worker sought to report the harassment, her store manager and district manager discouraged her, allegedly saying a formal complaint would “look bad for her” as she was seeking a promotion.
She claimed she was later told that she was not “emotionally mature enough” for a supervisor role, leaving her feeling dejected after making a big effort to improve the working environment.
The employer, represented by Emily Maverley of IBEC, rejected the claim and argued that the worker had failed to exhaust internal grievance procedures while in employment.
The company stated that the worker’s resignation letter made no reference to these issues and that senior management only became aware of the full extent of the allegations a month after she left.
The Labour Court and Workplace Relations Commission offices on Lansdowne Road(Image: Google Maps)
The hearing was told that the company subsequently appointed an independent district manager to investigate, which resulted in the complaint being partially upheld, and a new training manager role was created.
In her recommendation, WRC adjudication officer Patricia Owens found that the worker had made genuine efforts to address the issues informally with her line manager. She concluded that local management had failed to take adequate steps to address the concerns and had “actively discouraged” the worker from using the formal grievance procedure.
She ruled that the complaint could not be set aside simply because formal procedures had been bypassed, as the worker was misled into believing her concerns were being escalated.
While commending the company for its thorough investigation after the worker had departed, she recommended a compensation payment of €3,000 for the impact of the harassment and the failure of management to protect the worker while she remained in the workplace.
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