A recruitment company employee who took “a lot of offence” to a senior colleague at his firm allegedly approaching his wife after getting drunk at a leaving party and pulling her hair has claimed he was sacked as an act of penalisation within a month of complaining about it.
At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Monday, the worker, Sean Coffey, has alleged that his former employer, Azon Point Partners Ltd, trading as Azon Recruitment Group, breached the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 and the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 with the termination of his employment in June this year.
The claims are wholly denied by the firm. Its barrister told the WRC that the company’s position was that the hair-pulling allegation concerned a “non-work event” and called Mr Coffey’s penalisation complaint “really, really opportunistic”.
Mr Coffey was dismissed for “lack of performance”, as he was falling short on hitting an annual fee target of €100,000 – having brought in just €23,000 after a number of the candidates he placed with client firms “fell through”, its barrister, Una Clifford BL, submitted.
Ms Clifford told the WRC that the 10-person firm was predominantly staffed by the under-40s with a high turnover of employees. “If it doesn’t work out, it’s like any sales business, and unfortunately the employment doesn’t continue,” she said.
The WRC heard that on Friday 24 May this year, Mr Coffey’s former line manager sent a company-wide email inviting colleagues to the Tap House bar on Ranelagh Main Street in Dublin 6 to mark a colleague’s departure.
Setanta Landers, Mr Coffey’s solicitor, said it was alleged that on the evening in question, another senior employee of Azon, Mr J, who came to the bar, “was drunk” and “reached over unprovoked and pulled” Mr Coffey’s wife’s hair. Mr J is no longer employed by the company, having left of his own accord after failing to meet recruitment targets, the tribunal was told.
Mr Landers said his client had been told he could be up for promotion prior to taking three weeks’ leave to get married in April this year. He said his client was put through an “accelerated” performance improvement plan after complaining about the alleged incident and had his employment terminated when he went to meet Azon’s chief executive, Ronan Colleran, the following month.
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Mr Colleran said in evidence that it was “essential” that a recruiter in their first year in the firm, such as Mr Coffey, “prove themselves” and “get the results”. The complainant’s probation had been extended earlier in the year “because his performance wasn’t at the level that was needed”, with various performance metrics such as the number of meetings with and candidates’ CVs sent to clients not at an acceptable level, Mr Colleran said.
There was a “minimum” target of €100,000 in fees for a first-year recruiter at the firm which was “absolutely” achievable if they performed, he said. His evidence was that Mr Coffey’s former line manager had mentioned the complainant reaching €45,000, on the basis of placing four candidates with clients.
The alleged hair-pulling incident was only a few weeks after the Coffeys, newly-wed in April this year, returned from their honeymoon, the tribunal was told.
Mr Colleran said he did go to the “leaving do”, which involved and about 20 people, around half of whom were former employees of the firm, he said. His evidence was that he spent an hour there and bought drinks for himself and another couple and denied it was a work event.
Asked whether he spoke to Mr J about the allegation, Mr Colleran said the employee “appeared totally shocked” when he raised the matter. Mr J then told him: “I never would have physically invaded someone like that,” the witness said.
“Did it ever cross your mind that the issue Mr Coffey raised about his wife’s hair had anything to do with his termination,” Ms Clifford asked.
“No idea or inclination,” Mr Colleran said, going on to say he believed Mr Coffey had “accepted the apology” prior to his dismissal. He said he regarded it as an “interpersonal issue between two staff members” and that the penalisation claim came as a “complete shock”.
Ms Clifford said the complainant took “a lot of offence” to the alleged hair-pulling incident and reported the matter to Laura Murphy, Azon’s head of human resources, the following Monday.
Ms Murphy said Mr Coffey told her that Mr J was “quite drunk and that he had pulled Mr Coffey’s wife’s hair, and Mr Coffey expressed that he wasn’t happy and asked what Azon was going to do about it”.
Her evidence was that it “didn’t seem like an Azon issue”.
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Asked whether there was “a lot of going out” in the company, Ms Murphy said there was, with colleagues meeting up “probably twice a week”. She said staff usually went for lunch on Fridays but that she did not regard this as a work event – describing it as “just friends from work getting together”.
Ms Clifford asked whether there would be other events. Ms Murphy said: “Maybe after-work drinks on a Thursday… or any day really.”
Gillian O’Dowd, the company’s head of corporate affairs, said she had not approved a “work-related event” on the night of the alleged hair-pulling incident and that she did not attend herself.
Mr Landers asked her whether her husband, the chief executive, Mr Colleran, had bought drinks at the event using a company credit card. She said she would “have to go and see”.
Adjudicator Eileen Campbell adjourned the case on Monday for a further hearing in 2025 on a date to be confirmed by the WRC, when Mr Coffey and his wife are expected to give evidence.
She has directed the press not to identify Mr J, or anyone else named in the course of the hearing who was not present.
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