Man earning Rs 1 crore annually sues company for making him do ‘nothing’ at work

An employee of Ireland’s national railway network has sued his employer, saying his duties were slashed down drastically after he turned whistleblower against the company. According to the Irish Independent, Dermot Alastair Mills alleged that he was penalised after raising concerns about Irish Rail’s accounting practices more than nine years ago.

He told the Workplace Relations Commission that his work duties had been “hacked down to nothing” after he made a protected disclosure in 2014. The Irish Rail finance manager complained that he was being paid €121,000 a year (Rs 1.06 crore) for essentially eating sandwiches, going for long walks and reading the newspaper at work.

“I’d say if I got something that requires me to do work once in a week I’d be thrilled,” Mills told the Workplace Relations Commission at a hearing last month.

“I buy two newspapers, the Times and the Independent, and a sandwich. I go into my cubicle, I turn on my computer, I look at emails. There are no emails associated with work, no messages, no communications, no colleague communications,” Mills told the Commission.

“I sit and I read the newspaper and I eat my sandwich. Then about 10.30am, if there’s an email which requires an answer, I answer it. If there’s work associated with it, I do that work.”

Irish Rail accepted that Mills made a protected disclosure in 2014 but denied that the company penalised him for it.

Mills’ representative, the former HR head of Irish Rail, asked him: “You’re paid €121,000 for doing nothing?”

“Yes – when I say to do nothing, I mean to not use my skills,” Mills replied.