A former tutor at a popular fashion academy for children and teenagers has said her ex-employer dismissed her concerns that it was signing up children who were “too young” to safely operate sewing machines.
Sharon Darcy, from Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, has told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that the founder of Project Fashion Ltd, Paul Keeley, told her once to “get a box” when she pointed out to him that a child’s feet couldn’t reach the floor to work the control pedal.
She said that despite having no first aid certification, it fell to her on one occasion to dismount a machine needle to free a young girl whose finger was impaled so she could be brought to hospital.
She got on with the job because she was a single mother with a family of her own to support, she said.
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Darcy’s complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 alleging constructive dismissal from her job of two years at Project Fashion was heard by the WRC on Friday.
She said job stress was a factor in her decision to quit – telling the tribunal of a high turnover of staff and of being put to work with other tutors who did not know how to perform basic tasks on a sewing machine, like winding a bobbin.
The complaint is disputed by the company, founded by fashion designer Paul Keeley and his wife, Paula Keeley, which runs camps and after-school classes in fashion design for children and teenagers across Ireland.
“It was a very, very highly stressful job,” Darcy said at a hearing last week. She said the company took “no duty of care towards anybody’s mental health”.
She said that from the start of her employment in August 2022, she had raised concerns about safety repeatedly with Paul Keeley – including her fears about children tripping over extension leads.
“It has happened, children’s hands getting caught and needles going through their fingers,” she said. In one such incident, she had to dismount the needle from a machine to free a child, she said.
Darcy said she was not satisfied with her employer’s handling of an interpersonal issue with one colleague, and expressed upset at being left out of a promotional video for the classes.
She gave in a letter of resignation on September 18th, 2024, but agreed to rescind her resignation after she said her bosses agreed to increase her wages from €15 to €17 an hour.
When Project Fashion then wrote to her saying the pay rise was a “suggestion”, she replied to say she was not coming back.
“They lied to me about my wages, and I don’t take kindly to lies,” Darcy said.
“It was never said that we wouldn’t give her €17 per hour,” Paul Keeley said in evidence. The firm’s position was that Darcy’s grievances “had to be dealt with” first.
Cross-examining Paul Keeley, Darcy referred to a parent asking her to be ready to administer an EpiPen, and said: “I spoke to you on numerous occasions about child safety and lack of training in first aid.”
“I don’t remember a talk about that at all,” Mr Keeley said. “The first I heard of any grievance at all is in the emails,” he added.
“That is a lie,” Darcy said.
“It is not,” Paul Keeley said.
Adjudication officer Michael McEntee will give his decision in writing to the parties later.
