WRC recommends €15,000 payment to garda over 'failures' in handling suspension
Gordon Deegan
A State workplace watchdog had recommended that An Garda Síochána pay €15,000 in compensation to a serving Garda for the “significant failures” in which the Garda’s suspension for over three years was handled.
At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Adjudicator Ewa Sobanska found that An Garda Síochána (AGS) disregarded its own procedures, and the manner in which the Garda’s suspension was handled did not adhere to established bestâpractice standards.
In the case, the Garda was subject to a criminal investigation following a road traffic collision in September 2017.
After the Garda’s arrest for questioning on September 25th 2019, he was suspended from duty and the stated reason for the suspension was the instigation of an investigation by the Garda Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) into four alleged offences connected to the road traffic accident
The Garda member remained on a rolling suspension until December 2022 for reasons, according to Sobanksa, “that had ceased to be investigated in July 2020”.
In the anonymised ruling, Sobanska stated that in or around July 2020, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) indicated that none of the matters for which the Garda had been suspended would be pursued.
She said that this was not communicated to the Garda at that time.
She said that the Garda was summonsed to court on one separate charge and that charge against the Garda was dismissed on June 30th 2022.
Sobanska noted that the Garda was never suspended on foot of the separate charge before the court.
The Garda returned to duties in December 2022 after his legal team threatened legal action against AGS in November 2022.
In her findings, Sobanska stated that the AGS position—that it was justified in maintaining the Garda’s suspension even after his acquittal on the basis that GSOC was considering whether to commence disciplinary proceedings—appears difficult to justify.
Sobanska said: "I accept that an employee may be suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary procedures. However, no such procedures had been initiated in this case.”
Sobanska stated that the eventual decision to lift the suspension was taken without a determination by either GSOC or An Garda Síochána regarding potential disciplinary proceedings.
She said: “It appears likely that the suspension was lifted primarily as a result of the involvement of the worker’s legal representative. This further undermines the employer’s decision as to the requirement or necessity of continued suspension pending any such decision.”
Sobansla found that AGS’s compliance with its suspension policy, particularly in the context of vacancy notifications, monthly meetings, and timeliness of extension notices, fell short of best standards.
She said that AGS acknowledged and apologised for failing to notify the Garda of promotional vacancies during his suspension, contrary to its own policy.
She said that AGS also concluded that there was insufficient evidence of monthly meetings as required by the suspension policy and again issued an apology.
In 2021, the Garda earned €52,358 and his representative body argued that he lost out on a cumulative €22,688 and on his loss of income claim, Sobanska found that the Garda suspension policy was applied correctly during the period of suspension in the context of the payment of a suspension allowance.
On behalf of the Garda, his representative body contended that the Garda was "fully exonerated" of any wrongdoing before the courts and no internal disciplinary investigation was ever conducted against him.
It stated that with over 18 years of service with AGS, the Garda has never been the subject of a disciplinary investigation and has a fully clean record.
It stated that critically, the suspension persisted long after the foundational rationale for it had collapsed—the DPP ruled out 14 criminal charges and the criminal investigation was ceased, facts known AGS but never relayed to the Garda.
The representative body stated: “He was simply left to languish.”
The representative body stated that the Garda was fully exonerated after a three-year Garda suspension and a five-year GSOC investigation.
The Garda’s representative association contended that the Garda was entitled to substantial compensation for the breach of fair procedures and resulting distress and for the egregious failure by AGS to follow its own policy and the fundamental lack of fair procedures, which caused significant personal and professional hardship.
The representative body also argued that the Garda was entitled to substantial compensation due to the punitive nature of the suspension arising from the inordinate length of a "holding" suspension that functionally served as a punitive measure without any finding of wrongdoing.
The Garda’s representative body said that the failures in this case were not merely procedural; they constituted a fundamental denial of justice.
It contended that the Garda was punished without due process, and he is entitled to a significant award for the time he was left to languish under an unjust and improperly managed suspension.
At the WRC, AGS contended that the suspension for the period from September 2019 to December 5th 2022, was a valid suspension under the relevant regulations.
