Courts / Ireland / Report

Unfair dismissal awards should not be reduced in light of redundancy pay, WRC finds

Summary

The Workplace Relations Commission has ruled that awards for unfair dismissal should not be reduced due to redundancy payments, as outlined in a decision involving a well-known motoring school. Adjudicating officer Kevin Baneham stated that deducting a lump sum from an unfair dismissal award undermines the protections provided by the Unfair Dismissals Acts, particularly for long-serving employees. The decision upheld Brendan Phelan's complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, ordering the Irish School of Motoring to pay him €28,000 in addition to his severance pay for 15 years of service. The firm argued that the redundancy was necessary due to the pandemic, but the tribunal found that the process was not properly followed. Mr. Phelan was not offered alternative roles during the redundancy consultation in September 2020, and no alternatives were discussed when he was informed of his redundancy in May 2021.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Unfair dismissal awards should not be reduced in light of redundancy pay, WRC finds. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• May 2021 Hearing Or Sentence
• September 2020 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 2020 Hearing Or Sentence
• 2022-10-25 Publication

Why: This work had dropped off by 82% because of the Covid-19 pandemic and was slow to recover afterwards because of the switch to working from home, Mr Kearney said. CNI source report

Case subjects

Topics

Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report