Construction worker sacked after foul-mouthed “rant” loses £30k claim

Monday 03 September 2018

A construction site worker who called his employer of 16 years the c-word after he was denied more pay has failed in his claim to secure over £30k for unfair and wrongful dismissal.

Ex-foreman for PDB Carpenters and Builders Patrick Caffrey was last week handed the judgement by the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal, who described his case as “very unfortunate.”

Mr Caffrey had been working at the company since 2001 when tensions flared last year when he was reported to have decided that it was his “turn” to make money after serving his employers for 15 years. 

When a sub-contractor was no longer able to complete a site job estimated to be around £2,500, Mr Caffrey offered to carry it out with a colleague for £1,000, but his proposal was denied.

Pictured: Advocate Mike Preston heard the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal case.

While he told the Tribunal that he had accepted this was the end of the matter, his colleagues described the conversation and ensuing exchanges over the idea as far more tense.

The company’s managing director said that he had told Mr Caffrey to get on with his own job instead of “pricing up other jobs” to which he responded by going “into a rant” and threatening: “If I don’t get £1000 for the works I will sit on my arse in the hut and watch the sub-contractors do the work in future!” 

A colleague later met up with an “aggressive and confrontational” Mr Caffrey to discuss the idea, during which time he was reported to have repeated his threat. He then was alleged to have described the Managing Director as a “c***”. “And you can tell him that from me!” he was alleged to have added.

Upon return from a holiday in May 2017, Mr Caffrey received a letter saying he was suspended for demanding money and threatening not to work without it. A fellow worker with him at the time of its receipt said that Mr Caffrey had denied using the foul language, instead branding the colleague he’d discussed the idea with “a c***”. 

Following a disciplinary hearing, he was dismissed for “gross misconduct.” He appealed, but the decision was upheld.

Mr Caffrey was critical of the disciplinary process, stating that the investigation had not been thorough enough and that the appeal was “flawed.” He also claimed he had been dismissed for purely “financial reasons.” 

However, the Tribunal felt that, although not without its faults, the dismissal process had been conducted reasonably given the size of the employer.  Advocate Mike Preston, the Tribunal Chair, also found the version of events presented by Mr Caffrey’s colleagues to have been more probable.

In total, Mr Caffrey, who was formerly employed on a weekly wage of £955.50, had hoped to claim £34,843 in compensation: nearly £25,000 in notice pay, and a further £15,288 in compensation for wrongful dismissal.

But the Tribunal did not find in his favour and no payment or damages of any kind were awarded. 

Advocate Preston concluded: “In many ways this was a very unfortunate case. The Claimant had worked for the Respondent for many years and it was plain that he did not consider that he had done wrong. However, the Deputy Chair preferred the evidence of the Respondent in all material respects and found that the Claimant had not been unfairly dismissed, that is to say that the dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses in this case. Further, that the Respondent came to the genuine conclusion based upon a fair and reasonable examination of the facts, that the Claimant was guilty of gross misconduct, which in turn justified his summary dismissal without notice.”