WRC awards finance director €30,000 for unfair dismissal

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

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that Academic Bridge Ltd unfairly dismissed finance director Camila Nascimento Machado and directed the Dublin English language school to pay her €30,000 for her losses. The adjudicator found serious procedural failings in the redundancy selection process, although the company had a credible basis for reorganising during a crisis. A proposed contract cutting her salary by 60% was not a serious alternative, the ruling found.

Machado had told her new boss she was pregnant and planned to take maternity leave four days before she was presented with the reduced-pay contract. She rejected it and filed a grievance; the WRC found no convincing case that her pregnancy influenced the redundancy. The award reflects losses from the unfair dismissal, including that she would have received more than €25,000 during maternity leave if her contract had been honoured.