Cork landscape gardener to pay almost €12k to former employee he assaulted

Seán McCárthaigh

A Cork landscape gardener has been ordered to pay almost €12,000 in compensation to a former employee whom he assaulted after the worker tried to talk to him about being attacked by another colleague.

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that Juraj Adamec had been constructively dismissed by Con Kelleher, who operates CK Landscaping and Garden Maintenance in Glanmire, Co Cork, due to the combined effect of both incidents.

WRC adjudication officer, Patsy Doyle, said Mr Adamec had been “abandoned” by his employer, who had breached the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.

She also issued Mr Kelleher with “a strongly worded recommendation” about operating “modern-day employment” practices.

The WRC also ruled that Mr Kelleher had breached the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 over his failure to provide Mr Adamec with an employment contract.

Although Mr Kelleher was on notice of the complaints made against him by Mr Adamec, he did not attend a hearing of the case before the WRC last August and made no response to communications from the tribunal.

Ms Doyle said she would have liked to have met Mr Kelleher to assist her with teasing out the claim on the evidence of both parties.

However, she described his non-attendance before the WRC as “unreasonable.”

The WRC heard that Mr Adamec, who comes originally from Slovakia, had been working as a landscape gardener for Mr Kelleher for over two years on a salary of €620 per week before he ceased his employment on October 6th, 2023.

Mr Adamec gave evidence that he was well regarded and acknowledged for his talent as a landscape gardener.

He told the WRC that there were tensions with longer-serving staff members known only as Mr A and Mr B while working on a garden project in a suburb of Cork while Mr Kelleher was not present.

Mr Adamec described Mr A as “an aggressive person” and outlined how during a conversation about job security on October 5th, 2023 he was deeply shocked when his colleague headbutted him.

He claimed a heated exchange broke out when he told Mr Kelleher the following day that he did not want to work with Mr A again.

Mr Adamec gave evidence that he was verbally abused and assaulted by his employer which resulted in him sustaining an injury to his shoulder.

The complainant said he was scared and told Mr Kelleher that he would not be returning to work as he understood he was not wanted at the business.

Mr Adamec, who found new employment in April 2024, said his wages were stopped.

The WRC heard that he had sick notes which prevented him from working until March 2024.

Mr Adamec, who filed a report of what happened with gardaí, also provided a medical report on his injuries which also noted he had suffered stress after a chance encounter with Mr Kelleher in February 2024.

Mr Adamec’s solicitor, Simon Kelly, said it was Mr Kelleher’s actions rather than the initial assault by Mr A which “rendered it wholly unreasonable for the complainant to continue in his employment and necessitated the termination of his contract.”

In her ruling, Ms Doyle said Mr Adamec did not have the benefit of an employment contract or “the navigation tools of a grievance procedure.”

The WRC official said she accepted the complaint’s uncontroverted evidence about the assault by his work colleague.

She noted Mr Adamec was further affronted and punched when he tried to resolve the matter with his employer.

Ms Doyle concluded that the cumulative effect of both incidents had made his employment “unviable.”

“It is difficult to conceive that an employment such as this is in being in 2023,” said Ms Doyle.

She added: “Violence is a red line issue in any employment and an occurrence that requires guidance and intervention rather than escalation by an employer.”

Based on the evidence, Ms Doyle said she had to conclude that the employment relationship was severed once Mr Adamec was doubly assaulted in his workplace.

She said he had acted reasonably once Mr Kelleher had distanced himself from a resolution and carried out a “bodily attack” on his employee.

Ms Doyle said the incidents were not reconcilable as “heat of the moment utterances.”

The WRC official directed Mr Kelleher to pay his former employee €9,107 in compensation for the constructive dismissal – the equivalent of 14 weeks’ salary.

She also strongly recommended that he “immediately embraces the modern-day employment navigational tools of a grievance and disciplinary procedure as well as reportage of workplace injuries as set down in law.”

Ms Doyle also ordered Mr Kelleher to pay €2,602 in compensation over his failure to provide Mr Adamec with a written employment contract, bringing the total award to €11,709.