A worker who said his supervisor did not act when a colleague laughed at his tattoo of Jesus Christ, told him Polish people are “too religious” and insulted the Pope in front of him has been awarded €15,000 for racial and religious harassment at work .
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) was told that the harassment began after the victim told his employer that his supervisor planned to extort money from the company by staging a work accident and filing a personal injury claim.
Andrzej Waszkiewicz’s claim under the Employment Equality Act against Allpro Services was upheld in a recent WRC decision.
As evidence, he said that the supervisor, named in the decision as Mr A, told him that he wanted to “extort money from the company by getting an accident at work to get compensation”.
Mr. Waskiewicz said he only started his new job at the company a few weeks ago and that he reported it to another supervisor and emailed Human Resources.
Days later, he heard Mr A and a second employee, Mr C, calling him a “rat” and a “snitch,” he told the commission.
He said the bullying started with someone putting a roll of garbage bags in his backpack to “track him down for theft” and continued to soil the windows he had just cleaned.
When he complained, HR told him that the operations manager offered to move him to another workplace, but that “stayed”.
Mr. Waskiewicz, who told the WRC that he is Catholic and from Poland, said that Mr C “made fun” of his race and religion in a series of episodes between October 12, 2020 and October 22, 2020 and that his supervisor, the Mr A, “did nothing to stop it”.
Mr C doubted his faith and laughed at his traditions, such as celebrating Christmas on December 24, he said.
Mr. Waskiewicz said his colleague, Mr C, laughed at him as he changed his T-shirt and revealed a tattoo of Jesus Christ – as well as when he exclaimed “Oh my God” in response to something happening in the building.
Mr C also made “derogatory comments about the Pope” saying “Polish people” [are] too religious”.
Mr Waskiewicz, who represented himself at the hearing, said he reported the incidents as bullying but was asked to explain only once.
There was “no mention of a formal investigation” and he was “never asked to make formal statements” nor did he receive statements from other staff on the matter, he said.
The company denied any discrimination, alleging that Mr Waskiewicz had not established a prima facie case during the hearing.
It was not disputed that the complainant had not reported the cases of harassment to the company either.
It said it had put in place a system to restrict access to the area where personal belongings were stored to supervisors only after Mr Waskiewicz complained that someone had tried to trap him by putting a roll of garbage bags in his backpack. .
The company argued that the complainant had been offered work at another location at the time, but turned it down.
A company HR officer demonstrated the policies and procedures in place at the time and said Mr Waskiewicz was fired after returning from annual leave in November 2020.
The fairness of his resignation was not in question.
Chief Justice Louise Boyle wrote that it was “surprising” that the company did not turn up any witnesses who had worked with Mr Waskiewicz, who she said was a “credible” witness.
She said there appeared to be “no substantial investigation into the alleged bullying” and that since the HR officer who testified was not with the company at the time, her evidence should be considered hearsay.
Ms Boyle found Mr Waskiewicz’s story “credible” and that the harassment had taken place as he described.
She wrote that the complainant had been discriminated against, which amounted to intimidation on the basis of race and religion.
Ms Boyle ordered the company to pay $10,000 for the religious harassment and another $5,000 for the racial harassment.
She also instructed the company to develop an anti-bullying policy and communicate it to all of its employees.