A security officer guarding tech giant Google’s Barrow Street base in Dublin was dismissed after being accused of falling asleep on the job.
Donatus Okafor disputed falling asleep and said that he “just had his eyes closed for a long duration of time”.
Mr Okafor stated that after taking anti-depressant medication on April 4 2022 following his father’s death earlier in the year he became dizzy and sat down at his desk and closed his eyes.
Mr Okafor was dismissed on June 16 2022 by security firm Synergy Security Solutions for gross misconduct after it found him to be sleeping on duty on June 16 and Mr Okafor sued for unfair dismissal.
Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudicator Paul McKeon has dismissed Mr Okafor’s claim for unfair dismissal.
Mr McKeon found that Synergy Security Solutions was reasonably entitled to conclude that the actions of Mr Okafor were misconduct, which justified disciplinary sanction eventuating in dismissal.
Mr McKeon stated that he found the evidence “shows the extremely serious potential consequences of such a situation”.
Mr McKeon stated that Mr Okafor sought to diminish his time at his desk with his eyes closed for a long duration of time as “unfortunate” and that the sanction of dismissal for such conduct should have been less than dismissal.
Mr Okafor commenced working for Synergy Security Solutions in September 2019.
Synergy Security Solutions told the WRC that it is one of the leading international providers of managed security and related services across Ireland and Europe and prides itself on providing the highest levels of professionalism and customer care.
On April 4 2022, a company supervisor became concerned after Mr Okafor did not return any of the five calls made to the security control room at Google’s Barrow Street offices.
The supervisor went to the Google base out of concern for Mr Okafor’s health and safety and Synergy Security Solutions said that on arrival, the supervisor found Mr Okafor asleep on duty.
Synergy Security Solutions submitted that if there had been an incident, such as a fire or a break in etc. it could have been disastrous for all concerned, and specifically if the client had arrived and found the security guard asleep the relationship between the company and the client would have been destroyed.
In his evidence, Mr Okafor stated that his father had passed away on January 14 2022 and he was feeling depressed at the time.
He further stated that as he was the eldest of the family, he was saving up money to return for his father’s funeral in Nigeria which was scheduled to take place in April.
Mr Okafor explained at the hearing that while thinking of ways to raise money for his father’s burial, he became stressed and depressed and began to self-medicate with antidepressant medication his wife had given to him.
On the date of incident on April 4, 2022, Mr Okafor stated that while he was on duty at the Google Barrow Street site, he became dizzy after taking the medication and sat down at his desk and closed his eyes.
Mr Okafor disputed that he was sleeping and that he just had his eyes closed for a long duration of time and when the supervisor arrived, he informed the supervisor that he was not sleeping.
He also stated that because the volume of the phone was low he did not hear any call that was previously made to him before the supervisor had arrived as he had his ear phones in listening to music.
Mr Okafor stated that he was shocked by the disciplinary outcome and never expected that he would be dismissed.
In his closing remarks, Mr Okafor submitted that he believes that the sanction of dismissal was completely disproportionate to the conduct in question and that an alternative sanction should have been administered other than dismissal.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
