Aer Lingus dismissed agent who called colleagues ‘bullies’ in workplace rant

Aer Lingus dismissed a long-serving customer services agent after she called work colleagues “bullies and bitches” in a workplace rant, the Labour Court has heard.

However, the court dismissed a claim of unfair dismissal by Virginia Linehan after finding Aer Lingus’s decision to dismiss her was not unfair, and that if fell within the band of reasonable responses by an employer.

The Labour Court ruling took into account Ms Linehan’s public-facing role at the airline, and was signed off by deputy chairwoman Louise ­O’Donnell. She upheld a similar finding by the Workplace Relations Commission in July 2023.

That ruling was appealed to the ­Labour Court by Ms Linehan, who was employed by Aer Lingus from July 2009 until her dismissal in May 2021.

Ms O’Donnell pointed out that the former Aer Lingus employee had accepted in her submission to the court that her behaviour on July 31, 2019 was not acceptable in the workplace and that she wholly regrets what happened.

Under cross-examination at the court hearing, Ms Linehan confirmed that she had called two people bullies and bitches, but stated it was a stress reaction.

Asked what triggered the reaction, Ms Linehan stated that it was years of bullying.

Asked whether she accepted her conduct was entirely unacceptable, Ms Linehan replied “no”. However, she did concede that she would find it unacceptable if somebody called her a bitch or a bully.

Aer Lingus stated Ms Linehan’s employment was terminated on grounds of gross misconduct, as she had been verbally abusive and engaged in aggressive conduct towards colleagues in the incident on July 31.

The incident was captured on CCTV and was witnessed by several staff.

On the day in question Ms Linehan informed her supervisor she was taking her lunch at a particular time, which was approved. Aer Lingus stated that for reasons that remain unclear, Ms Linehan also telephoned crew control which allocates staff to gates for departure and arrivals.

Ms Linehan stated that she did not know if she was marked down for lunch, and what time she had to come back, and decided to go to the Hub Control Centre (HCC).

Aer Lingus, represented by Tom Mallon BL, stated that when Ms ­Linehan got there, she was verbally abusive to staff. The airline said her behaviour undermined their trust and confidence in her, as she was in a public-facing role.

In evidence the Aer Lingus leader of ground operations, Ms Hayes, said that she had been called “a bitch” after she asked Ms Linehan if she wanted to come into her office at the HCC.

Cathy Dolan, an Aer Lingus manager of the boarding area airside, said that as Ms Linehan approached her, she called her a bitch three times and called her a bully. Ms Dolan said it was the worst experience she had ever had in her workplace.

In evidence Ms Linehan suggested the Labour Court should take into account the fact she was under stress when the incident happened.

She had felt, and her trade union at the time raised it, that Aer Lingus should treat the incident as a welfare issue, and not a disciplinary one, but the airline would not do that.

Ms Linehan believes that her employment was terminated unfairly and arose from her exercising her right to raise a grievance in 2014.

She believes from that point on she was treated less favourably than her colleagues and the cumulative effect of being treated differently led to stressors which ultimately led to the event on July 31, 2019.

In the court’s findings, Ms O’Donnell stated that Ms Linehan could offer no reasonable explanation as to why she went to the HCC when her supervisor had already approved her lunch.

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