A recent decision of an Adjudication Officer under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 - 2015 found that the Complainant had made a prima facie case of discrimination on grounds of gender, and had been dismissed due to her pregnancy and not due to reasons of redundancy as purported by the Respondent Company.The Complainant was awarded €14k compensation.

This recommendation by the Labour Court (LCR21798) is a very useful reminder about the significant potential cost of not adhering to fair procedures when terminating employment during the probationary period.

With the Christmas party season about to get underway this weekend, employers need to be aware of the potential costs of not dealing correctly with issues that may arise during workplace social events.

The determination published earlier this year in the SSP Ireland v Albert Fordjour provides some useful lessons for employers on the necessity of adopting fair procedures at all stages of the investigation and disciplinary processes and in particular around the interviewing of proposed witnesses (Ref UDD 1758).

Whilst case law clearly indicates that the use of Fixed Term Contracts can be problematic, provided used correctly and in line with the provisions of the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003, they can provide employers with a suitable mechanism to deal with non permanent resourcing requirements.

The Labour Court recently rejected an appeal by a hotel worker that his summary dismissal for breach of IT & Security Policies was unfair and confirmed that the decision to dismiss was within the range of responses of a reasonable employer with regard to the employee's conduct and that his dismissal was not unfair (Determination UDD 1839).

The Labour Court recently upheld a decision of an Adjudication Officer in respect of a claim that an employee had been regularly working excessive hours beyond her contracted 40 hours per week, in breach of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.

In a recent Labour Court Determination (EDA 1838), the importance of reviewing all available medical evidence and potential pending medical information was highlighted when Dunnes Stores lost it's appeal against an award that had been made against it, after they had dismissed an Assistant Manager who had been absent for over 2 years with a stress related condition.

Did you know that annual leave entitlement accrues on a statutory basis for all employees regardless of employment status and length of time worked? A former employee of O Brien's Sandwich Bars who had a very brief period of employment, was successful in her claim under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 for leave due from the short half day trial period that she had worked.

In this recent Labour Court Determination(UD1835), following an appeal by a Beauty Company against an Adjudicator's decision to award a former employee €10,000, there are lots of learning points for employers on how to run disciplinary procedures correctly, as the Labour Court dismissed the appeal due to a number of procedural errors on how the disciplinary process was run.