Two council waste management employees were caught red-handed by a member of the public illegally dumping a mattress and a sofa on a public footpath.
The local authority brought disciplinary action against the employees concerned stating that for employees from its own waste management section to be found illegally dumping is “totally unacceptable and injurious to the council”.
A report from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) gives details of the dumping but none of the parties are named.
One of the employees was driving a council vehicle while the second was following behind on a moped. The two called to a private home on April 6th, 2017 and removed the bulky items and later illegally dumped the items on a public footpath.
The illegal dumping came to light after a complaint to the council from a member of the public.
Suspension
The illegal dumping by the two employees came before the WRC after a third council waste management employee implicated in the illegal dumping appealed to the WRC a council sanction where he received a written warning and a one-day suspension without pay.
The man said that while on sick leave walking near his home on April 6th, 2017, a council van pulled up beside him and the driver was a colleague in the waste management section.
The man got into the van and remained in the van while the driver made two stops. He claimed that he was unaware what was going on outside the van when it was stopped as he was filling in forms to do with a personal matter.
WRC adjudication officer Roger McGrath said that he agreed with the council and that the sanction of a formal written warning and one day’s suspension without pay was reasonable in this man’s case.
The outcome of the disciplinary action against the two illegal dumpers is not disclosed in the WRC report.
