Childline operator slept on the job, tribunal told

A Childline operator who allegedly slept for hours during shifts is challenging her dismissal for alleged gross misconduct, an Employment Appeals Tribunal has heard.

Blessing Osem was an employee of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), which runs the Childline phone service, from October 2007 until her dismissal in March 2014.

She is taking a case of unfair dismissal against the organisation which provides confidential support to children and teenagers.

A sitting of the tribunal heard accusations on Tuesday that Ms Osem, a part-time call facilitator, missed calls from vulnerable children while she was asleep.

She is alleged to have later amended call logs to “falsely or inaccurately” reflect that she had been working as normal.

Childline national manager Margaret Roe, Ms Osem's former supervisor, told the tribunal a quality control exercise in May 2013 showed Ms Osem was answering calls from children and then staying silent "until they got fed up and hung up".

By this stage, Ms Roe said the employee was already on a final warning after apparently being caught sleeping on the job on various occasions in 2011 and 2012. Ms Osem denied in subsequent investigatory meetings that she had been asleep for any calls.

In 2014, two of her colleagues made official statements of complaint relating to incidents in February and March of that year when Ms Osem was said to have fallen asleep during overnight shifts for periods of six hours and three hours respectively.

The two nights in question were said to have been particularly busy, and the complainants reported feeling “used and unsupported” when they were forced to answer calls which had come through to their unconscious workmate’s phone.

"She put her head down to sleep at 11.45pm, she woke up at 5.45am. As a result I had to take all calls on a busy night, I don't feel this was fair to me or the society," said call operator Barbara Waters of the incident in February 2014.

The tribunal heard the “most vulnerable” children tended to get in touch during these hours, but records showed numerous calls had gone unanswered during Ms Osem’s period of inactivity.

It was also claimed she had come home late from annual leave twice in the first half of 2012, and that her level of activity as regards answering calls and being logged into the operating system fell well below minimum requirements on various occasions over the course of her employment.

The tribunal was told that a number of other disciplinary issues also arose before she was eventually dismissed for gross misconduct in March 2014.

Legal counsel for the ISPCC will continue giving evidence when the hearing resumes on March 1st next, when Ms Osem is expected to put forward her case.