Woman takes redundancy case against nursing home company

A WOMAN who was dismissed from a private nursing home in Dublin after allegedly blowing the whistle on a work colleague has taken a case for redundancy at the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Victoria Manzano, who worked at Rostrevor House in Rathgar, has sought redundancy payment from Kitelm Limited, the company that operated the home.

The private nursing home was closed down in June 2011 after a court order was obtained by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

The authority said it had been provided with details of a number of incidents of alleged abuse at the home and it also cited concerns about “an alarming history of falls, injuries and incidents” there.

A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions following a Garda investigation into the claims of abuse, but there were no prosecution in the case.

Therese Lipsett, the former owner of the home, told the tribunal yesterday that Ms Manzano had made allegations about one of her colleagues to Hiqa inspectors at the home, which were reported to gardaí.

“The police had an intensive and extensive investigation and said they couldn’t find anything to support her allegations,” Ms Lipsett said.

She claimed the DPP had said Ms Manzano’s action was “a vexatious act against her colleague” and “there was no substance to it”.

Chairman of the tribunal Joe Revington interrupted Ms Lipsett, asserting that the DPP “would not say that”. He then insisted Ms Lipsett take a formal oath.

Ms Lipsett also claimed the home was closed down because of the allegations.

Deirdre Canty from Siptu, representing Ms Manzano, denied the claim. She said the home was closed down due to the Hiqa inspection.

All of the other employees were made redundant and got statutory redundancy except Ms Manzano, whom the directors believed was a whistleblower.

“Our member is entitled to her redundancy payment,” Ms Canty said.

After it emerged that at the time Ms Manzano was dismissed, in June last year, Ms Lipsett was no longer a director of Kitelm Limited and had handed over the company to her daughters Sarah and Avila Lipsett, Mr Revington said the case could not go ahead.

“Ms Lipsett was not the employer,” he said. “I know it’s inconvenient but unless we can hear both sides we can’t determine it.”

The case was adjourned to November.