LCR22374

1. Unfair Dismissal, Reinstatement and Compensation.

BACKGROUND:

2. The Worker began employment with the Employer in 2018 on a fixed term contract due to end on 12 May 2019. In April 2019 the Worker was out sick for a period of three weeks. On Saturday 25th May 2019 the Worker again went on sick leave.

On 14 August 2019 the Employer advised the Worker that his fixed term contract had expired on 12 May 2019 and that 25 May 2019 was his last working day.

On 29 October 2019, the Worker sought to return to work.

On 9 December 2019, the Employer advised the Worker’s representative that the Worker’s employment had been terminated, as set out on 14 August 2019.

On 31 March 2020, the Worker, referred this dispute to the Labour Court in accordance with Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 and agreed to be bound by the Court’s Recommendation.

The Company did not attend the hearing.

A Labour Court hearing took place on 26 February 2021.

WORKER’S ARGUMENTS:

The Worker says he was unfairly dismissed by the Company without recourse to fair procedure.

The Worker states he was dismissed while on sick leave.

RECOMMENDATION :

The Court accedes to the request of the Worker to amend the name of the Employer from ‘Supermacs’ to ‘Supermacs Ireland Limited’.

The Worker in this case did not have the requisite service to be covered by the protections of the Unfair Dismissals Act. This Court has found consistently that employers are required to afford due process to employees before a decision to dismiss is taken, even if the employees concerned are not covered by this legislation.

The Employer chose not to attend the Court hearing. The Court sees no reason not to accept the uncontested facts of the case, as outlined on behalf of the Worker.

The Court finds that the Worker continued to work for the Employer after the expiry of his fixed term contract and that he was dismissed subsequently without any apparent reason.

The dismissal was devoid of procedures and was fundamentally unfair. The Court accepts that if the Worker had not taken sick leave it is most likely that he would not have been dismissed. In this regard, the Court notes that the service of the Worker was sufficiently satisfactory for the Employer to select him for an Assistant Manager’s course.

In all the circumstances, the Court recommends that the Employer pay a sum of €12,000 to the Worker in compensation for this unfair dismissal.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Tom Geraghty
NJ	______________________
8 March 2021	Deputy Chairman