LCR22611

1. Fair procedures were not followed in termination of employment.

BACKGROUND:

2. The claimant referred a complaint to the Labour Court on 23 February 2022 under Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 and agreed to be bound by the recommendation of the court. A Labour Court hearing took place remotely on 26 May 2022.


RECOMMENDATION :

The Claimant referred a complaint to the Labour Court on 23 February 2022 in accordance with Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969, and agreed to be bound by the Court's Recommendation.

A remote Labour Court hearing took place on 26 May 2022. The employer declined to attend the hearing.

The Claimant told the Court that she commenced working with Dolan’s Gala in Tullamore on 10 December 2020. She initially worked 5 days a week, but this subsequently changed to 28 hours worked over 4 days. She was paid €10.50 per hour.

On the 01 November 2021, at the end of her shift, the Claimant raised a workplace issue about a colleague with her manager. Her concerns were ignored. Following this meeting she was not placed on the roster for two weeks. She made calls and sent texts to the manager but received no reply. On the 10 November 2021, the manager phoned her but would not explain why she was excluded from the roster. Instead he informed her that he would send on her final payslip.

The Claimant said that she does not know why she was dismissed. She had never missed days or taken sick leave. She had never received any warnings. She had not raised any issues with her employer before the conversation on 01 November 2021. The Claimant said that her employment was terminated without any fair procedures.

The Employer did not attend the hearing, so the Court accepts the undisputed facts as presented on behalf of the Complainant.

The Court has, on many occasions, emphasised the necessity for an employer to follow fair procedures when a worker is at risk of the loss of employment. In this case, based on the uncontested facts set out by the Claimant, the employer followed no meaningful procedure at all in terminating the Claimant’s employment. Notwithstanding that the Worker did not have the requisite service to be covered by the Unfair Dismissals Act, the Court takes a consistent view that employees are entitled to fair procedures before being dismissed. Accordingly, the absence of any procedures leads the Court to conclude that the Worker in this case was dismissed unfairly.

In all of the circumstances, it is the view of the Court that the worker was unfairly dismissed from her employment. The Court recommends that the employer pay the Claimant the sum of €1,800 in full and final settlement of this matter.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Katie Connolly
SL	______________________
10 June	Deputy Chairman