Sodexo workers awarded compensation for unfair dismissals

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

Two catering workers were unfairly dismissed by Sodexo after a redundancy process that a Workplace Relations Commission adjudication officer called “lazy” and “wholly inadequate”. Patricia Fleming was awarded €5,305.56 and Kaye McDonnell was awarded €8,580.

Adjudication officer Breiffni O'Neill heard their complaints together on 19 April 2022. Both had worked at a client site in Ovens and were made redundant in September 2020. Ms Fleming had started work in November 1998 and Ms McDonnell in September 1999; both transferred from Aramark Catering to Sodexo on 1 October 2010.

The workers alleged that night-shift staff were deliberately targeted because they were on better rates of pay. They said the consultation did not facilitate counter-proposals, retained colleagues received extra hours and one redundant colleague was later rehired.

Sodexo said its client no longer required a night shift at the site because of the Covid-19 pandemic and intended to continue home working for the foreseeable future. The company said it had consulted the workers and identified no suitable alternative roles.

Mr O'Neill found no concrete evidence that Sodexo had meaningfully explored alternatives. He said a reasonable employer would have included day, evening and night-shift workers in the selection process. He found that both workers' failure to appeal their dismissals was due to erroneous advice from their union, SIPTU.

The awards each represented 52 weeks of the difference between the workers' former and new weekly pay. Mr O'Neill made no award for the periods before they found new work, citing their ex-gratia payments and the absence of documentation showing they had sought work during those periods. He also noted that neither provided evidence of continuing attempts to mitigate their ongoing losses.

The original decisions were dated 27 April 2022. A correction order revised Ms Fleming's award after she explained that her new employer paid her fortnightly rather than weekly; Mr O'Neill had initially concluded that she had no financial loss.