A tribunal has ruled that a council foreman who is alleged to have threatened to turn himself into a 'human fireball' in a one-man protest has been unfairly dismissed.
In its ruling, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ordered employer, Clare Co Council to pay Joseph Floyd (Snr) of Lower Main Street, Tulla €30,000 for the unfair dismissal.
Mr Floyd told the EAT that he wanted his old Council foreman job back as he has been unable to get work since being dismissed in September 2011, but the EAT has ruled out reinstatement.
In May 2010, SIPTU shop steward, Mr Floyd locked himself into a van at a Council roadworks programme in the east Clare village of Feakle with a lighter and petrol in protest at the Council hiring outside contractors and safety concerns he had over the practice.
According to the EAT report, Mr Floyd threatened to set himself and plant machinery on fire – at the hearing, Mr Floyd denied making those threats.
Mr Floyd’s protest resulted in a five hour stand-off that involved armed members of the Garda Emergency Regional Unit (ERU) along with other members of Gardaí, the fire service and the ambulance service.
SIPTU organiser, Tony Kenny told the EAT, held over four days in Ennis, that “the Abbeylara scenario was on everyone’s minds” when trying to defuse the stand-off.
In 2000, John Carthy was shot dead by armed Gardaí in controversial circumstances after a 25 hour siege at Abbeylara.
On the Feakle stand-off, Mr Kenny told the hearing: “It was pretty volatile. Joseph Floyd was exceptionally agitated. The situation was dangerous and there was armed Gardaí all over the place.”
Mr Floyd told the tribunal that members of the ERU had their Uzi machine guns trained on him and he said “this was a typical bullying exercise and the Council was using the ERU and the Gardaí to bully a worker”.
In his evidence, senior council official, Leonard Cleary said that “there was a very serious risk to loss of life” at the stand-off and this governed all of his actions on the day.
Mr Kenny negotiated with the Council to provide a letter to Mr Floyd that he remained a Council worker in spite of the stand-off and Mr Floyd ended his protest as a result.
Mr Cleary told the tribunal that the letter was given under duress and had the effect of defusing the situation and restoring calm.
The EAT report stated that the following day, the council placed Mr Floyd on administrative leave out of concern for his welfare.
The EAT report recorded that the Council did not tell Mr Floyd not to have any contact with the media and he conducted a live interview with Clare FM the following Monday on the stand-off and his grievances.
Hours after the interview, Mr Floyd was suspended by the Council in order for it to investigate the allegation of gross misconduct by bringing the council into disrepute.
A Council investigation found that Mr Floyd was guilty of gross misconduct and he was fired in September 2011.
However, in its determination, the Tribunal found that Mr Floyd was sacked because he went on Clare FM.
The Tribunal stated that it found it unfair that the Council found Mr Floyd guilty of serious insubordination although he had not been charged with that.
The EAT found: “There was a lack of evidence to substantiate the charge of bringing the name of the Council into disrepute. The Tribunal was not satisfied that this charge was sufficiently proven to warrant dismissal.”
The three-member EAT stated that it unanimously deem it just and equitable to award Mr Floyd €30,000.
The Council now has the option of appealing the ruling to the Circuit Court. A spokesman for the Council said yesterday: “Clare County Council is in receipt of the EAT's decision and is considering its response.”
