A council employee has lost a challenge to his dismissal after his employer found he had stolen more than €1,600 of diesel bought using public money.
Michael Walsh, a council employee since 2013, was found following an internal inquiry to have committed “theft, fraud and deliberate falsification of records”.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) rejected a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by the worker challenging Galway County Council’s decision to dismiss him for gross misconduct.
Mr Walsh had been a “general services supervisor” over a team of six, a position he held since about December 2021.
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Lawyers for the local authority said Mr Walsh came under scrutiny after administration staff in a council office in Clifden queried certain payments to a supplier in relation to the purchase of fuel for vehicles being used by the council in January 2023.
Owen Keany, for the council, said Mr Walsh had gone against policy by using a council-supplied payment card for low-value purchases to buy fuel on three occasions in December 2022 instead of paying with a fuel card he had also been issued with.
His line manager accepted his explanation in relation to the first of these transactions, the tribunal was told.
However, after the other two were queried, administration staff checked with a plant hire firm and were told there was no record showing a road sweeper was out on hire to the council the day Mr Walsh said he refuelled it, the WRC was told.
Mr Walsh admitted to his line manager he had “used his LVP card for personal use” for the three transactions, totalling €446.80 and “insisted” there were no other “improper purchases”.
A broader inquiry identified more “suspicious transactions” and the council developed concerns that Mr Walsh seemed to be “using [council] funds to fill drums with road diesel for personal use” while claiming the purchases were to fuel a van hired out to the council for Mr Walsh’s use on the job, the WRC was told.
The observation was made that the amount of fuel being bought “exceeded the fuel capacity of that vehicle”, Mr Keany said.
The council inquiry said Mr Walsh had admitted to unauthorised purchases of fuel over 12 occasions totalling €1,217 using council cards – all of which had been attributed to fuelling the hire van by Mr Walsh.
The investigator also found on the balance of probabilities that there were more fuel purchases totalling €652.25, showing “inappropriate use” of the council cards, the tribunal was told. This was reduced to €395.25 after further findings led to fuel purchasing linked to a teleporter machine being set aside.
Mr Walsh had not denied the wrongdoing at investigation meetings in May and June 2023, Mr Keany said.
The worker told an investigator he was “under stress” because he had to run his father’s farm and had to travel long distances due to his personal circumstances, Mr Keany said.
In evidence to the WRC, Mr Walsh said he “did not steal one cent and not a litre of fuel was for personal use”.
He said that as with his council-supplied work boots and his personal work boots, he used his personal jeep “interchangeably” for council work.
He said his name was “destroyed” by the affair and his family’s good name was put into disrepute.
A decision to dismiss Mr Walsh was confirmed on appeal and his employment was terminated in February last year
Siptu’s Marie O’Connor, for the worker, argued the employer failed to consider Mr Walsh’s unblemished disciplinary record, personal circumstances and the fact he used a personal vehicle and yard for work purposes. She said dismissal was a disproportionate sanction.
In her written decision, adjudicator Ewa Sobanska said Mr Walsh had “every opportunity to present his account” and had “consistently stated” that he used council cards to obtain fuel for “personal use”.
“I cannot accept that the complainant misunderstood the meaning of the word ‘personal’ in this context,” she said.
She found that the complainant was not unfairly dismissed.
