The firm that operates the National Car Test (NCT) dismissed a team leader after he admitted to bringing a vehicle owned by a local garage to an NCT centre and proceeded to test it himself and pass it.
The team leader concerned, John Farrell, sued for unfair dismissal after claiming that the ‘whisteblower’ in the case was actually his ex-wife and they were going through divorce proceedings at the time the allegations were being made to Applus and the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
Mr Farrell alleged that the allegations made against him by his former wife were done so maliciously.
However, Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudicator, Valerie Murtagh, has rejected Mr Farrell’s action, concluding that the Spanish-owned Applus Inspection Services Ireland Ltd’s action in dismissing him was “fair and proportionate”.
Ms Murtagh stated that what Mr Farrell did in driving a vehicle he didn’t own to a test centre and passing it “constituted a serious breach” of Applus’s expressly stated procedures. The vehicle in question failed an NCT test on July 2, 2020, on five separate points including extensive corrosion in one area.
However, Mr Farrell tested the vehicle again on July 15, 2020, when he passed it having brought it to the test centre himself. Ms Murtagh stated that Applus was justified in its findings and that dismissal was the appropriate sanction.
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