Butcher unfairly dismissed after ‘pork loin assault’

A butcher at a meat processing plant was assaulted and then unfairly dismissed arising from a dispute with a manager over a loin of pork.

Now, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found that the worker was unfairly dismissed and ordered the meat processing firm to pay the butcher €11,026.

The worker told the hearing that he has already received €5,000 in compensation at the district court arising from a criminal prosecution concerning the "pork assault".

In the incident on 3 February 2017 at the meat processing plant, an "eye" of a loin of pork was cut through and the firm’s transport manager felt this joint would be rejected by a customer.

Cause of defect

The Brazilian worker said that the manager, who is a brother of directors at the firm and a co-owner of the business, accused him of badly butchering the loin and causing the defect.

The butcher denied that it was him who caused the defect to the meat as there were other co-workers working on the line who could equally have caused the defect.

The argument became heated and the worker put his boning knife into the loin of meat, threw his steel into an empty bin and attempted to walk away.

He claimed that the manager stood in front of him, grabbed him by the throat with his two hands and threw him in the direction of the bins nearby.

He then grabbed him by the back and pushed him towards the boning hall.

He said to the worker, “you are out”, and the worker took this as meaning “you are fired.” The butcher hit his head off a metal box during the incident and he was bleeding.

Dispute continued

The worker was walked by the manager out of the boning hall and the dispute continued in the hallway outside.

The butcher then took off his overalls and rang the gardaí to report the incident.

The firm issued the man with his P45 on 10 February 2017.

In her ruling, WRC adjudication officer Marguerite Buckley found that the worker’s employment was terminated in an unfair manner.

Ms Buckley stated that she couldn’t fully accept the evidence of the butcher that he was an entirely innocent party in the incident which took place on 3 February 2017 and that the actions of the transport manager were totally one-sided.

She added, however, that whatever provocation was made on the butcher’s part, it was on the lower end of the scale and did not justify the transport manager physically assaulting him and ordering him out of the boning hall.

Payment

Ms Buckley ordered that the butcher be paid €10,200 for the unfair dismissal and €826 for minimum notice payments.

The firm denied that the incident of 3 February 2017 occurred in the manner alleged by the butcher. Its case was that the butcher was the aggressor throughout and that he had a history of getting into fights.

The firm claimed that the butcher brought about the fight that morning in the boning hall.

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