Graziano D'amato wins €42,000 unfair dismissal award

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Graziano D'amato has won his unfair dismissal complaint against travel technology company Tripadmit Ltd. In a decision dated 10 October 2024, Workplace Relations Commission adjudication officer David James Murphy directed the company to pay him €42,000.

The WRC hearing took place on 14 February 2024. D'amato had joined the company on 20 September 2021 and was dismissed on 30 May 2023.

D'amato said he had not been warned that his job was at risk and that the reason given for his dismissal was that the clients he generated were not profitable enough. John Maguire, who represented Tripadmit, said D'amato had been told in February and March that his job was at risk and that he needed to improve. Maguire accepted that the termination notice could have been worded better.

Murphy found that the company had not demonstrated substantial grounds for the dismissal. He said it had followed neither a redundancy procedure nor a performance improvement or disciplinary process, and had provided no written evidence that it had raised performance issues that could lead to dismissal.

The officer found that D'amato had mitigated his financial loss and that the company had contributed to it by refusing without justification to provide a written reference. In assessing the award, Murphy also considered that business pressures outside the company's control had contributed to the dismissal and that there was probably a lawful route open to it to make D'amato redundant.