Community worker accused of stealing socks wins €15,000

A veteran community worker of 27 years who was accused of theft and sacked for taking a pair of knitted socks she said she thought were going to be dumped has been awarded €15,000 for unfair dismissal.

The Workplace Relations Commission made the award in a decision published today on a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against St Munchin’s Community Centre CLG by the worker, Geraldine O’Donnell.

Ms O’Donnell said she took the socks thinking they were on their way to be thrown out when she found them on some boxes in the centre’s reception area on a date in November 2022.

She said the centre’s chief executive officer, Linda Ledger, came to her and questioned her about the missing socks that same day. The complainant said that she had taken them, and was immediately suspended – and ultimately sacked for gross misconduct.

Ms O’Donnell explained that she had been in her position as a community worker for some 27 years with an “unblemished” record and was set to retire in January 2024.

She said she thought she “might only get a warning” and “couldn’t believe” she was being dismissed.

Ms O’Donnell said it was “almost impossible” to find new work because of her age, which she gave as 65 at the time of a hearing in June 2023.

Victoria Stephens of the SIPTU Workers’ Rights Centre submitted that her client was left without either her €400-a-week wages or her State pension, as she had not reached 66 yet.

The company’s assigned investigator, Michael Cusack, stated in evidence that Ms O’Donnell’s “excuse” was that she believed the material was “being thrown out as rubbish”.

The CEO, Ms Ledger, gave evidence that the socks had been left with “art materials” meant to go to a teacher who was attending the venue to assist a group of Ukrainian refugees.

Ms Ledger said the woman who knitted the socks was the person who reported they were gone. She said that Ms O’Donnell had been seen on CCTV taking them. The complainant initially denied taking anything when she was first questioned before admitting taking the socks when she was questioned about them specifically, Ms Ledger added.

In her decision, adjudicator Niamh O’Carroll noted that the investigator, Mr Cusack, concluded that Ms O’Donnell had “stolen” the socks and that theft amounted to gross misconduct – findings that went “far beyond the purpose of an investigation” which should have done no more than establish facts, she added.

“The disciplinary process itself left a lot to be desired. From Ms Ledger’s evidence, it seemed to be nothing more than a box-ticking exercise,” Ms O’Carroll wrote.

The adjudicator added that said the worker’s explanation for taking the socks was “reasonable” and that suspending her over the matter was an inappropriate reaction that could have had a “very detrimental effect” on Ms O’Donnell’s reputation.

Ms O’Carroll also noted that the employer had ignored the mitigation of the complainant’s “mistaken belief” the socks were to be thrown out. The proportionality of any sanction ought to have been considered too, in light of Ms O’Donnell’s lengthy and unblemished work history, she added.

Upholding the complaint of unfair dismissal, Ms O’Carroll awarded the complainant €15,000 in compensation.