Courts / Ireland / Report

Pharma firm ordered to pay €25k to employee unfairly dismissed

Summary

Pharma firm Randox Laboratories was ordered by the Workplace Relations Commission to pay €25,000 to research scientist Paul Dunne after he was unfairly dismissed. Dunne, who had worked on immunoassay development for five years, claimed he was dismissed for using a 0.7mg antibody conjugate instead of the 0.5mg version instructed by his line manager, Danielle Vance. He argued the experiment was still in the pre‑verification stage and that he had recorded the test as not for verification. The commission found that while Dunne had not complied with the instruction, the dismissal was procedurally unfair, citing a flawed investigation and lack of opportunity for Dunne to explain his actions. The adjudicator reduced the compensation by 50% and ordered Randox to pay €25,000. The decision upheld Dunne's claim of unfair dismissal.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Pharma firm ordered to pay €25k to employee unfairly dismissed. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• October 2019 Other
• 29 January 2020 Other
• 14 February 2020 Other
• 2022-03-29 Publication

Why: James Stewart, in-house counsel for Randox, told the commission that because the tumour monitoring project Mr Dunne was working on was a cancer test it was in a "higher risk category" and "subject to increased scrutiny" from regulatory bodies. CNI source report

Case subjects

Topics

Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report