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A night porter in a Kerry hotel who let a drunk guest who had soiled himself into the wrong room has been awarded €7,200 compensation because he was unfairly dismissed over the incident.
According to an Employment Appeals Tribunal ruling published last week, Noel Baltzer of Countess Road, Killarney was employed by the Killarney Court Hotel located on the outskirts of the tourist town.
Hotel management said that Baltzer had let guests into the wrong room on two occasions prior to the incident with the intoxicated guest.
On the first occasion there was nobody in the room and the hotel decided to let the incident go. But a few months later Baltzer again let a guest into the wrong room which this time was occupied and the guests were very disturbed by the intrusion.
The hotel then warned Baltzer that he should check the night porter's list before letting anybody into a room and warned him that any further breach would result in dismissal.
Four months later he let an intoxicated guest into the wrong room again. Baltzer told the tribunal that he didn't first check the porter's list because the "man was desperate to get to his bathroom as he had soiled himself".
Baltzer explained that when he opened the door he immediately discovered there were people asleep in the room, apologised and left.
The guests complained the next day and refused to pay for the room.
The hotel explained that it couldn't risk another incident and had no choice but to sack Baltzer.
Hotel management did agree to look at alternative jobs in the hotel such as washer-up or kitchen porter but it came to light that Baltzer's work permit was about to expire and could not be renewed for such positions.
The tribunal chairman noted however that the hotel had failed to tell Baltzer that he could have had a representative at the disciplinary hearing and that he could also appeal the hotel's decision to sack him.
Therefore the tribunal ruled that the dismissal was procedurally unfair and awarded Baltzer €7,200 and one week's pay of €450 in lieu of notice.
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A very bad decision on the court's part and a clever defence, what about the guests who were distressed, the number of previous incidents, the reputation of the hotel. also what about the competence of the worker who was not able to distinguish one room from another, and his personal responsibility to learn his rights, don't we have citizen's advice bureaux, unions information etc.? But smart enough to get a clever lawyer. Another short sighted result from our courts, a joke.