Latest news with #ThomasFarrell
Irish Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Salesforce recruiter becomes first person to get compensation over delayed response to remote working request
A recruiter at Salesforce has been awarded €1,000 compensation after his employer breached remote-working legislation which came into force last year. Thomas Farrell moved to the west of Ireland with his family under a remote work arrangement, but was ordered back to an office 275km away after less than a year by the company, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard. The WRC made the €1,000 award solely for the software company's failure to respond in time to a formal request for a remote work arrangement by Mr Farrell after he was told last year that he was required back in the office three to four times a week. Salesforce, which has its European headquarters in Dublin, was found to be in breach of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 for missing a four-week deadline for a response. READ MORE Mr Farrell told the WRC at a hearing in February how his managers approved an arrangement in June 2023 under which he would be allowed to relocate to the west of Ireland and 'continue working remotely, attending the office as needed'. The tribunal heard there were personal circumstances for the move and that it was required for his partner's employment. But Mr Farrell's line manager told her team 11 months later that they would have to attend the office three to four times a week, he said. In a formal request under the legislation, Mr Farrell told his employer he needed to work remotely because of 'the unsustainability of a 550km daily round-trip commute'. He also pointed to 'proven performance in a remote capacity' and 'inconsistencies' in Salesforce's return-to-office policy, which he stated 'allowed other employees in similar roles to work remotely'. His request was filed on June 10th last year, but the company failed to reply within the four-week deadline specified in the legislation, the WRC noted. Salesforce then wrote to Mr Farrell on July 11th, after the expiry of the deadline, looking for more time. It rejected his request on July 26th, nine days after he filed a complaint to the WRC. The reasons given for requiring Mr Farrell in the office were 'the promotion of collaboration', a need for 'in-person meetings with hiring managers' and 'alignment with [Salesforce's] global hybrid working strategy', the tribunal was told. Mr Farrell said these reasons were at odds with 'prior agreements and internal communications' which he said had 'explicitly removed' in-person meetings from his duties. Zelda Cunningham, for Salesforce, said the failure to respond to Mr Farrell's request in time was 'attributable to human error'. She argued the company had complied with the legislation by responding to the request. WRC adjudication officer Breiffni O'Neill accepted Salesforce's position that he could not consider any aspect of the complaint except for its failure to respond to Mr Farrell's request within the four weeks required by the legislation. That ruled out any consideration of the substantive reasons for denying the request, he wrote. Mr O'Neill found Salesforce gave 'no compelling reasons' for failing to meet the deadline, but that he considered the delay 'minor'. He directed the company to pay Mr Farrell €1,000 for the breach. Mr Farrell's case is the ninth complaint decided by the WRC under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, which came into force last year, and marks the first award of compensation under the legislation. In one case last year, the WRC said that staffing agency Cognizant Technology Solutions Ireland Limited had contravened the Act by missing the deadline for responding to such a request by a worker. However, the adjudicator in that case awarded no compensation as she considered that the volume of requests by staff at the firm made the delay 'inevitable'.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Teen hurdler's incredible grit to cross finish line after three falls
Teen hurdler's incredible grit to cross finish line after three falls Three medals for Thomas Farrell - gold in the soft javelin, bronze in the 600m and bronze in the standing long jump (Image: Contributed) A WARRINGTON athlete fell over three times in a race and showed incredible grit to cross the finish line. And not put off, tough cookie Leah Russek showed her mettle again when she returned to the track later in the day in a different event and achieved a personal best time. The day started well for the Warrington Athletics Club under 13s competitor. Russek made her debut in the 70m hurdles in the Warrington AC Hurdles Festival and Junior Open staged at Victoria Park on Sunday. She won in 17.13secs but it was in the second running of the event a little later that she suffered three falls. Russek hit a hurdle and fell but did not give up, returned to her feet and continued. But she hit the next hurdle and hit the deck again. Undeterred she got up again and continued only to hit the final hurdle and fell for a third time. The determined youngster got up to finish in 26.32 seconds - after picking up her shoe which had come off! For some, that might have been enough for one day but not Russek. After having been persuaded to get first aid treatment, she ran in the 800 metres and finished fourth in a personal best 3mins 05.01secs. Meanwhile, Olivia Crawford won both runnings of the under 17s women's 80m in 11.79secs and 11.73secs respectively. In the under 20s men's 110m, Lewis Shaw continued his winning streak by smashing his PB with 14.76secs – going under 15 seconds for the first time and moving to third place on the UK rankings. In the under 17s women's 300m hurdles second claim member Evie Elliott running under Bury AC set a new personal best time of 46.50 seconds. Luis Davidson ran superbly in the under nines boys' 600m to win in 2mins 00.05secs. Behind him in third place, Thomas Farrell, who was also third in the standing long jump, won the soft javelin in 15.72m. Georgia Clarke won the under nines girls 75m in 13.98 seconds, while in the standing long jump and soft javelin Linda Szekely came out on top with 1.41m and 7.33m respectively. In the under 11s age group, Otis Milliken won the soft javelin in 16.36m.
RTÉ News
06-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
WRC - Salesforce ordered to pay €1,000 over delay in response to 550km office commute
A recruiter at Salesforce who moved to the west of Ireland with his family under a remote work arrangement - only to be ordered back to an office 275km away after less than a year - is the first person to win compensation for a breach of legislation which came into force last year. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) made the award solely for the business software company's failure to respond in time to a formal request for a remote work arrangement by the worker, Thomas Farrell, after he was told last year that he was required back in the office three to four times a week. Salesforce, which has its European headquarters in Dublin, was found in breach of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 for missing a four-week deadline for a response. Mr Farrell told the WRC at a hearing in February that his bosses approved an arrangement in June 2023 under which he would be allowed to relocate to the west of Ireland and "continue working remotely, attending the office as needed". The tribunal heard there were personal circumstances for the move and that it was required for his partner's employment. Around 11 months later, in May 2024, Mr Farrell's line manager told her team they would have to attend the office three to four times a week, the complainant said. In a formal request under the legislation, Mr Farrell told his employer he needed to work remotely because of "the unsustainability of a 550km daily round-trip commute". He also pointed to "proven performance in a remote capacity" and "inconsistencies" in Salesforce's return-to-office policy which he stated "allowed other employees in similar roles to work remotely". His request was filed on 10 June 2024, but the company failed to reply within the four-week deadline specified in the legislation, the WRC noted. Salesforce then wrote to Mr Farrell on 11 July 2024, after the expiry of the deadline, looking for more time. It rejected his request on 26 July 2024, nine days after he filed a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission. The reasons given for requiring Mr Farrell in the office were "the promotion of collaboration", a need for "in-person meetings with hiring managers" and "alignment with [Salesforce's] global hybrid working strategy", the tribunal was told. Mr Farrell said these reasons were at odds with "prior agreements and internal communications" which he said had "explicitly removed" in-person meetings from his duties. Zelda Cunningham, internal counsel for Salesforce, said the failure to respond to Mr Farrell's request in time was "attributable to human error". She argued that the company had complied with the legislation by responding to the request. Adjudication officer Breiffni O'Neill accepted Salesforce's position that he could not consider any aspect of the complaint except for its failure to respond to Mr Farrell's request within the four weeks required by the legislation. That ruled out any consideration of the substantive reasons for denying the request, he wrote. Mr O'Neill found Salesforce gave "no compelling reasons" for failing to meet the deadline, but that he considered the delay "minor". He directed the company to pay Mr Farrell €1,000 for the breach. Mr Farrell's case is the ninth complaint decided by the WRC under the Work life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, which came into force last year, and marks the first-ever award of compensation under the legislation. In one case last year, the WRC concluded that staffing agency Cognizant Technology Solutions Ireland Limited had contravened the Act by missing the deadline for response to such a request by a worker. However, the adjudicator in that case awarded no compensation because she considered that the volume of requests by staff at the firm made the delay "inevitable".
