A graphic designer who said he put up with a \u201ctoxic\u201d workplace under a \u201cDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde\u201d magazine publisher for over a decade until he walked off the job last year has won \u20ac19,000 for constructive dismissal. <\/p>\n
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has upheld a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by the worker, Austin Lambe, against Irish Vintage Scene Ltd, trading as Print More, in a decision on Friday.<\/p>\n
The company, noted by the tribunal to be in liquidation, had operated a print shop in Oranmore, Co Galway, and published the car magazines Irish Vintage Scene and Retro Classics. <\/p>\n
At a hearing in July, Mr Lambe said he spent 12\u00bd years working in an office in Oranmore, Co Galway with the owner of the company, Tom Heavey, earning a salary of \u20ac38,800, until he got up and left after an argument with his boss on 12th September 2024. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people came and went during those years. They\u2019d usually last two years and leave. There was a very toxic work environment. My employer was a very hard person to work for,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He said that towards the end of his employment, Mr Heavey \u201cwouldn\u2019t even say hello\u201d. \u201cIt was like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,\u201d he said of his boss\u2019s conduct in the office. <\/p>\n
He said that during an argument about a broken printing machine at lunchtime on Thursday, 12th September, 2024, Mr Heavey \u201cmade some comment that everything I do has to be checked\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so stressed and disappointed after 12-and-a-half years I just said to him: \u2018Look, I\u2019m leaving . . . I can\u2019t sit here. When I come back tomorrow, I\u2019m handing in my notice,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He said his doctor saw him the following day, Friday 13th, and advised him to take a break from the office. <\/p>\n
He texted his employer that evening telling him he was not handing in his notice. He showed adjudicator \u00dana Glazier-Farmer a chain of text messages in which Mr Heavey replied: \u201cNope, you\u2019ve handed in your notice, and I\u2019ve accepted it.\u201d <\/p>\n
After Mr Lambe texted back that he had made a remark \u201cin the heat of the moment\u201d Mr Heavey replied: \u201cYour job is no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe devil you know is better than the devil you don\u2019t know. There isn\u2019t jobs for graphic designers in Galway, it\u2019s a very small niche,\u201d Mr Lambe said. <\/p>\n
Ms Glazier-Farmer wrote in her decision that the respondent company \u201cchose not to attend the hearing\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI accept the complainant\u2019s account of Mr Heavey\u2019s consistent oppressive and demeaning conduct,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe actions and words of the respondent over a prolonged period of time amount to unreasonable conduct,\u201d she concluded, upholding the complaint. She awarded Mr Lambe \u20ac19,055.40 in compensation. <\/p>\n
Ms Glazier-Farmer based the level of compensation \u2013 nearly six months\u2019 wages \u2013 on a finding that Mr Lambe\u2019s health was \u201cdirectly affected by the respondent\u2019s conduct in the workplace towards him\u201d. <\/p>\n
Mr Lambe\u2019s evidence was: \u201cEverything I did was second-guessed and overanalysed. I was graphic designer, receptionist, printer, answering phones in the shop, 20 things at a time. Over the years, my job got more and more and more detailed. He micromanaged everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to remember every single customer . . . every inquiry we had. If a customer rang in two weeks earlier, I had to remember every detail. It wasn\u2019t possible for me to do everything he wanted me to do,\u201d Mr Lambe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt irritated him. He would be verbally very annoyed. If he brought up a job [he would ask]: \u2018What stage is that at?\u2019 If I don\u2019t have exactly what stage that job is at he\u2019d get very agitated, very annoyed: \u2018Why can\u2019t you remember?\u201d You\u2019ve 50 jobs on the board, I can\u2019t remember every detail,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He said that Mr Heavey had \u201ca very big problem with staff chit-chatting\u201d and that there were no personal conversations at the office when the boss was in. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did I stay there so long? I\u2019ve a mortgage and bills. Beggars can\u2019t be choosers,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve a thick skin. I put up with it,\u201d he added. He said he didn\u2019t attempt to invoke a grievance prior to his dismissal as he \u201cdidn\u2019t want to make a toxic environment even more toxic\u201d. <\/p>\n
Ms Glazier-Farmer told Mr Lambe at the hearing there had been direct communication to state that Mr Heavey was \u201cnot turning up\u201d. <\/p>\n
Mr Lambe said: \u201cIf I was a betting man, I would have bet he would put the company into liquidation rather than pay me. He would begrudge me it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A graphic designer who said he put up with a \u201ctoxic\u201d workplace under a \u201cDr Jekyll and Mr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-85418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}