Alleged bullying left mail sorter ‘terrified’, High Court told

A mail sorter has claimed before the High Court an alleged campaign of bullying and harassment left her "terrified" about returning to her job in a Dublin sorting centre.

Joanne Rundle (38), Shanliss Avenue, Santry, Dublin, is suing An Post over alleged bullying between 2005 and 2006 at the Dublin Mails Centre (DMC) in Clondalkin, Dublin, where 850 people are employed.

She claims she was subjected to a “relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour” which caused her severe anxiety, leaving her out of work for lengthy periods and “terrified” about returning to the DMC.

An Post denies her claims.

Ms Rundle is now working in the GPO in Dublin in what she says are happy circumstances.

The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, has urged the parties to consider overnight whether “a prolongation of this case” could be avoided, especially as Ms Rundle is still working for An Post.

Earlier, Ms Rundle said her complaints concerned three now-retired supervisors at the DMC - Kevin Doherty, Larry Shields and Niall Withers.

She claimed she had been working for nearly five years as a post sorter at the DMC when in mid-2005 she was subjected to bullying after she made a complaint to her trade union representative of being constantly watched by Mr Doherty.

Between 2005 and March 2006 she was treated differently to her other colleagues by Mr Doherty and by Mr Shields, she said.

Bullying, she alleged, included persistent and deliberate staring, pestering, humiliation before colleagues, aggressive behaviour, verbal abuse and attempts to undermine her role.

Hostile tone

She said Mr Shields would, on a constant basis, ensure she was not working in the same area as her friends, frequently shout at her in front of colleagues and address her in an aggressive and hostile tone.

On one occasion, he started shouting in her face: “You do what I tell you to do,” she said.

In January 2006, following talks with the human resources department of An Post, she was allowed to work in a different section from Mr Shields, but within a week an attempt was made to put her back in the same section as him, she said.

In February, when she asked Mr Withers to sign a sheet allowing her to swap shifts with a colleague, she said Mr Withers refused and said: “I’m going to bully you like the rest of them.”

Constant supervision, including being told she could not leave her work station other than for breaks or to go home, led her to feeling stressed, and on March 9th, 2006, she went on certified sick leave.

‘Absolute mess’

She was “an absolute mess”, was sleeping for about an hour and a half a night before going on a 12-hour shift and did not leave her bedroom in her parents’ house for about three months.

She made efforts to get back to work between May and October that year on the basis she would not have to work with Mr Doherty or Mr Shields, but there was no agreement to this.

By February 2007 she had exceeded sick leave limits and went on the pension rate of pay.

Efforts continued, through her solicitor, to allow her return to work, and in August 2008, with the help of the company’s occupational support services, she was relocated as a sorter in the Dublin Airport Mails Centre.

Everything went well there until March 2010, when she learned Mr Withers was to be transferred to the airport under a promotion.

She said panic attacks from which she had suffered returned and she was also told she was to be transferred back to the DMC.

She went out sick again and in January 2014 returned to work, this time in the GPO.

The case continues.