A finance manager at Iarnród Éireann who said his duties were "hacked down to nothing" after he made a protected disclosure nine years ago has withdrawn his complaint at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after an agreement was reached with the company.
Dermot Alastair Mills had previously told the WRC that he spent most of his working week in a €121,000-a-year job reading newspapers, eating sandwiches and going for long walks.
Mr Mills had taken a complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, alleging he was subjected to penalisation as a whistleblower after raising concerns about certain accounting matters at Iarnród Éireann in 2014.
At a brief hearing this morning, the WRC was told that the complaint was being withdrawn.
Adjudicating officer Penelope McGrath acknowledged that a compromise had been reached and thanked the parties.
"This was a tricky case with a number of issues being dealt with," Ms McGrath said.
Mr Mills' representative, industrial relations consultant and former Iarnród Éireann HR chief John Keenan, issued a brief statement following the hearing.
"My client was satisfied to withdraw his complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act, based on a settlement expressed in an agreement reached with Iarnród Éireann," Mr Keenan said.
At a previous hearing, Iarnród Éireann accepted Mr Mills made a protected disclosure but denied penalisation.
The company had argued that the WRC only has jurisdiction to rule on the extent of any alleged penalisation as it relates to the complainant's failure to secure a more senior post during a 2018 recruitment process.
Mr Keenan told a previous hearing that his client was "still enduring penalisation" in his continuing employment because of the alleged reduction of his role.
"I'd say if I got something that requires me to do work once in a week I'd be thrilled," Mr Mills told the Workplace Relations Commission in November.
"I started off with what seemed like a reasonable remit in 2013 and 2014. Slowly but surely it was hacked down to nothing," he said.
