A Health Service Executive (HSE) disability services worker who claimed she had been bullied has been awarded €80,000 in compensation by an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The tribunal found that Eileen Howard of Victoria Court, Cusack Road, Ennis, Co Clare, had been constructively dismissed by HSE West of Catherine Street in Limerick.
Ms Howard started working in the health service in 1971 and moved to Ennis in 1974.
The tribunal was told that she had made a complaint against her line manager and a more senior line manager and that, as a result, the HSE had appointed an independent investigator in 2005.
Part of Ms Howard's complaint was that the HSE "by far exceeded" the scope or remit of the investigation.
She told the tribunal that the investigator had got "aggressive and accusatory". He told her that everyone he interviewed spoke against her; no one spoke for her.
He said the HSE would never admit that bullying happened and that there were no witnesses, according to a determination from the tribunal.
Ms Howard interpreted a letter from the investigator as suggesting that she retire and that "if she did not, a process that she made a malicious allegation would ensue".
The tribunal found that the inclusion in the investigation of other issues, such as whether the claimant used, or ought reasonably to have used, a more appropriate way of resolving her difficulties, displayed a bias.
The tribunal said it believed this led to "imparting and abandonment of fair procedures" to the detriment of Ms Howard.