The ‘missing’ owners of Avondale nursing home, which was closed down by the health authorities recently have been ordered to pay almost €38,000 compensation to two former staff members in their absence.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal has ruled that care assistants Mary and Erica Dunne were constructively dismissed because of bullying and harassment by the owner of the nursing home, Miriam Holmes.
Mary Dunne was awarded €22,620 in damages while Erica Dunne was awarded €15,080.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal heard that Miriam Holmes subjected Mary Dunne to abusive language in front of other staff.
Mary Dunne, who had worked in Avondale since January 2005, said she resigned from her job in October 2010 as she could take no more of the bullying, harassment and humiliation. She claimed Ms Holmes became more confrontational in January 2008 after she had been elected a shop steward and staff had sought an increase in their pay.
Erica Dunne said she had also been subjected to bullying treatment and was picked on by both Miriam Holmes and her daughter, Hayley.
Holmes and her daughter, who were both directors of the nursing home disappeared shortly after the nursing home was closed by the Health Information and Quality Authority on July 21 last.
It is believed that they boarded a flight set for Australia and were last seen on a bus to Dublin Airport on the day after the nursing home was closed.
However since their disappearance the mother and daughter duo are also being investigated for allegations of theft. Residents and/or their relatives have given official statements to the Gardai detailing that they stole money, medication and personal public service cards from residents of the home.
The two are also being investigated in a separate criminal investigation by HIQA for breaches of nursing home legislation under the Health Act 2007.
The extent of the Kilkenny nursing home’s inadequacies became increasingly clear as the case unfolded in district court. When Health Service officials moved in to take over the facility in July they found that food stocks were dangerously low, and that residents were being discharged without the necessary consultation with their next-of-kin and GP.
HSE authorities said the actions of Miriam and Hayley Holmes had amounted to the “wilful and reckless abandonment of the nursing home and its residents”.
Several business owners in Callan have also accused the women of leaving large unpaid bills worth several thousand euro.
