A FORMER manager with a Co Cork State-funded community development organisation who was fired after porn images were found on his computer has been awarded €1,500 compensation.
An Employment Appeals Tribunal found that Eanna Dowling of Chickley’s Road, Park Mountain, Youghal, was unfairly dismissed by Cumann Na Daoine Aontaithe in Youghal.
The tribunal said “inappropriate material” was found on Mr Dowling’s computer in mid-December 2006. “The computer was secured and examined by a computer consultant who found that inappropriate websites had been accessed and images downloaded,” the tribunal said in a determination issued yesterday.
The consultant found a number of adult pornographic sites had been accessed on “numerous occasions” and images “of soft-core pornography” had been downloaded on seven days over 15 months.
The tribunal said there was a “stark conflict” about whether Mr Dowling had admitted responsibility for the material. The tribunal accepted the development organisation’s evidence that Mr Dowling had admitted to downloading the material and “offered a fulsome apology on three separate occasions”.
By a six-to-two majority the management committee decided to dismiss Mr Dowling on grounds of gross misconduct and breach of trust. This was in accordance with his contract which defined gross misconduct as a “gross breach of standards of behaviour where an employee deliberately or recklessly carries out an action or conducts himself in a manner that is entirely unacceptable.”
The tribunal said there was no evidence or allegation that Mr Dowling distributed the material by e-mail or otherwise.
“Whilst the tribunal itself might not consider that the alleged behaviour constituted gross misconduct the majority is conscious that it is not its role to substitute its decision, views or opinions for those of the employer.”
It said it was “satisfied that at the time of the alleged inappropriate downloading of images the claimant ought to have known that to indulge in conduct of this nature could pose a serious risk to his continuing employment . . .”
The tribunal found that the participation of two members of the management committee in the final decision about Mr Dowling as well as in the disciplinary processes “renders the dismissal procedurally unfair”.
Taking all the circumstances into account, the tribunal found that compensation of €1,500 was “just and equitable”.