Courts / Limerick / Report
Tile store owner who sacked wife after separation ordered to pay €20k
Summary
In a decision by the Workplace Relations Commission, Alan Collins, owner of the Tile & Wood Factory Outlet in Limerick, was ordered to pay his estranged wife Michelle Collins €20,000 for unfair dismissal. Collins had terminated Michelle's employment in 2021 after she had been on sick leave in 2020 and had allegedly used a company credit card without consultation and spoken about their divorce to staff and customers. Michelle claimed she was bullied out of the shop floor and that her husband had brought their personal life into the workplace. The tribunal found that Michelle had been treated as an employee at all material times, that no proper disciplinary investigation had taken place, and that her dismissal violated the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977. Consequently, the commission awarded her compensation for the unlawful termination.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Tile store owner who sacked wife after separation ordered to pay €20k. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial
When:
- August 2019 Other
- November 2020 Other
- October 2021 Incident
- 2023-05-18 Publication
Why: Her husband had been able to make a career as a tiler while she stayed at home to mind their children, she said – and that because the dispute is "known in the industry", nobody in the tiling trade would take her on "because of Mr Collins's behaviour". CNI source report
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