A former employee at one of Ireland’s top independent stud farms was required to fill out handwritten ledgers detailing each bank transaction as bosses there were “quite old-fashioned” and “wouldn’t know how to log on to online banking”, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard.
The tribunal also heard Yeomanstown Stud claims that among matters it raised with its former bookkeeper, who has brought a case for unfair dismissal, was that a ledger was “out by €11 million”.
At the WRC on Thursday, Gillian Keane, a former employee at Yeomanstown Stud in Co Kildare, said she had been “treated quite aggressively in front of another worker” on the day she came back to work at the stud’s accounts office after nearly a month out on sick leave for workplace stress, having made allegations of bullying against an office manager.
Her former employers, horse breeders Rolline and David O’Callaghan, insist it was Ms Keane who was aggressive on November 1st last year – with their barrister telling the employment tribunal there was “very squarely an issue with her credibility”.
The O’Callaghans are directors of Mull Enterprises Ltd, the company which employed Ms Keane part-time at the stud farm and is the respondent to her complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.
Barrister Mark Finan BL, appearing for the O’Callaghans, said the company had informed Ms Keane on October 5th that they were going to advertise for a financial manager, though she had taken the position that she was already fulfilling the role.
“Far from what Ms Keane suggests – that she was a star employee – she had a history of making material mistakes,” he said, adding that Ms Keane had rejected what he termed “constructive criticism” from Ms O’Callaghan.
He said Ms Keane was told she could apply for the role, but that Ms Keane “took this as a unilateral attack on her position”.
In a submission quoted to the tribunal, Ms Keane said the office manager had “created such a dreadful atmosphere” that it was difficult to concentrate on her work and that she had taken to wearing headphones at work. Ms Keane is to give her evidence in chief on a future date.
Rolline O’Callaghan said she expected Ms Keane to come back to work following her medical leave on October 17th with medical certification of her fitness to resume work, but that Ms Keane had failed to provide this.
“Ms Keane states that she felt very threatened by this atmosphere,” Mr Finan said to his client.
Ms O’Callaghan responded: “I would say the opposite; she was in the room when I entered, sitting on her desk, aggressively flicking through her phone… it didn’t end particularly well, she was shouting, she was aggressive. I told her it was impossible to engage with her when she was like this,” she said, adding that Ms Keane “just stormed out of the office”.
Cross-examining her former line manager, Ms Keane said she denied allegations that she shouted and left work “slamming doors and driving away” on October 17th.
Ms Keane then took further medical leave over workplace stress, the tribunal heard.
In evidence, Ms O’Callaghan said Ms Keane had twice referred to interpersonal difficulties in the office informally, but had never referred to them in terms of “bullying” prior to a meeting on October 31st at the Osprey Hotel in Naas, when she and her husband met Ms Keane and her husband.
“We left on very good terms on the 31st; I had said to her to get her bullying complaint in writing, and it would be dealt with,” Ms O’Callaghan said. “The next day I expected a normal day’s work,” she said.
However, the tribunal heard Ms Keane’s submission described coming in to work to find passwords changed and feeling “sick” when she discovered that she had no access to online banking.
Ms O’Callaghan said a big part of Ms Keane’s job was to fill out handwritten ledgers with details of each bank transaction for four companies operating from the stud farm. This was primarily for the benefit of her “quite old-fashioned” father-in-law, horse breeder Gay O’Callaghan, and her husband, who “wouldn’t know how to log on to online banking”, she said.
Among the matters raised with Ms Keane on her second return to work on November 1st were that a ledger was “out by €11 million”, Mr Finan said.
Ms O’Callaghan confirmed to her counsel that, as Ms Keane had stated, her father-in-law came to the accounts office to discuss the accounts discrepancy on November 1st and told the complainant: “I nearly had a heart attack.”
The witness said the only reason the online banking access had changed was because Ms Keane had been absent, and she denied telling Ms Keane to “get on with the handwritten ledgers”, as she said she would not address staff in that manner.
She said Ms Keane had complained about “feeling cold”, and that she had closed the office door in response.
“When I closed the office door she said I was trapping her in and she was going to call the guards – she went out of the room and said: ‘I’m calling the guards’,” Ms O’Callaghan said.
“I called David [O’Callaghan] in because obviously the situation had escalated so far out of control,” she said, referring to her husband.
Mr O’Callaghan’s evidence was that there was “a hostile environment between Gillian and Rolline”.
“There was talk of a Garda phone call, then [Ms Keane] said if Rolline had a support person, she wanted a support person. I said that was fine, she could get a support person. When I said this she tried to intimate I had dismissed her, trying to put words into my mouth,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
He said it was “clear the relationship had broken down” and that Ms Keane “didn’t want to be there” – adding that he later phoned Ms Keane and proposed a severance agreement, offering her a month’s pay to part company with them.
“She asked for three months, we settled on two… the severance [agreement] you’ve seen, sent by our solicitors, that was it,” he said, calling it “a mutual decision to terminate the contract”.
Cross-examining Mr O’Callaghan, Ms Keane said: “Would you agree a lot of the humiliation and humiliating behaviour was conducted in front of another employee?”
“I don’t agree there was any humiliation. If you were uncomfortable, you asked for a support person; we said you could get a support person,” the witness replied.
The company position is that Ms Keane cannot succeed in her claim as the worker severed her employment contract by mutual agreement in a phone conversation with Mr O’Callaghan on the afternoon of November 1st, when it maintains she negotiated a severance payment worth two months’ wages.
Ms Keane disputes agreeing to the deal on the phone and said a written severance agreement document arrived “out of the blue” on November 17th. She said a sum of money she received was in respect of her holiday entitlements, but that she had no payslip explaining its purpose.
Adjudicator Conor Stokes has adjourned the matter and is to hear Ms Keane’s direct evidence on a future date.
