07 Oct Gross Misconduct
Gross misconduct dismissals have a much higher standard to meet than a standard dismissal to demonstrate that the employment relationship cannot continue with immediate effect and that notice does not need to be paid....
26 May Record Award For Unfair Dismissal
Lots of useful lessons in this WRC decision for employers in proper and fair disciplinary handling as well as making a reasonable and proportionate decision before deciding to dismiss. In this case poor procedures were very costly with €329,000 awarded....
05 Jan Investigation Procedures
The importance of always adhering to fair investigation procedures was highlighted in a recent Labour Court case that upheld the Complainant’s appeal of the quantum awarded of €2,544 made by an Adjudication Office, increasing the compensation payable to €5,000 (Ref UDD2167)....
17 May Dismissal For Refusal To Wear a Face Mask
Whilst this is a decision of the UK Employment Tribunal, which upheld the summary dismissal of a lorry driver who refused to wear a face mask on a client site, it may provide some indication of how a similar case would be dealt with in the WRC. (Kubilius -v- Kent Food (Case Number: 3201960/2020)...
04 Feb Right To Legal Representation At Disciplinary Hearings
The Court of Appeal decision last October in Irish Rail v McKelvey has provided some much needed clarity for HR practitioners on the issue of whether legal representation should be permitted at internal disciplinary hearings, following the confusion caused by the earlier decision of Eagar J in Lyons v Longford & Westmeath ETB....
27 Nov Re-engagement Ordered By Labour Court After Flawed Investigation And Disciplinary Process.
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)....
01 Oct Gross Misconduct Dismissal Held To Be Fair
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)....
18 Jul Beauty Therapist Retains 10k Award in Appeal
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....
19 Sep Maximum 2 Years Compensation Awarded for Unfair Dismissal
A recent Labour Court Determination DHL Express (Ireland) Ltd v. Michael Coughlan (Ref No. UDD1738) gave some useful guidance on the use of spent disciplinary sanctions in determining subsequent disciplinary sanctions. The maximum compensation of 2 years salary for unfair dismissal was awarded....
09 Jun Employment Policies and Procedures
All organisations should have a clear set of policies and procedures that govern not just relevant employment and HR areas but all aspects of their operations. The benefits of policies and procedures reach far beyond being legally compliant and can contribute hugely to the overall effectiveness of an organisation provided they are consistently applied....