Former staff member alleges bullying

A former employee of St Michael's House, a disability services provider in Dublin, said yesterday that a "bullying" atmosphere was "pervasive" in the organisation.

Emer Lynch, who worked at St Michael's House until 2004, ultimately as principal social work practitioner, was giving evidence at the Employment Appeals Tribunal in a constructive dismissal case brought against the charity by Dr Mark Harrold.

He alleges a campaign of bullying was orchestrated against him when he voiced concerns about the transfer of a resident, Peter McKenna (60), to Leas Cross nursing home. Mr McKenna, who had Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, died 10 days after he left St Michael's. Dr Harrold resigned in 2004.

Ms Lynch described management's treatment of a number of colleagues as "appalling" and said she had met people daily who "felt very fatigued, very fed up and felt treated badly and bullied in the way they were spoken to". She said a "bullying" atmosphere was "a given. When you spoke to people about it they'd say things like 'Sure, that's the way it is here' and 'Well, you're not going to change that'."

There was no union shop steward in her department. "And I don't think people would feel safe in the clinical department being a shop steward."

Structures that facilitated employees giving feedback about their working conditions would have been useful in St Michael's, "instead of relying on the braveness of individuals to come to places like this and rallying [ behind] former colleagues."

Jacinta Kitt, a researcher on workplace bullying based in Trinity College, said fewer than 1 per cent of allegations of bullying were spurious. Some 98 per cent of people who reported bullying "just want it to stop".

The case was adjourned to June 9th.