The Labour Court varied a Rights Commissioner's recommendation in Tesco Ireland PLC's appeal over a final written warning issued to Denise Curran. The Court recommended that the letter imposing the warning be fully removed from her personnel file and not referred to again. Its decision was dated 1 November 2017. Tesco had appealed the earlier recommendation that the warning be withdrawn and expunged.
The warning followed an allegation that Curran had instigated unofficial industrial action. The Labour Court said the agreed disciplinary procedure allowed a final written warning to remain on a staff member's file for 12 months, while the letter said it would be retained indefinitely for possible future reference. The Court found that indefinite retention departed from the agreed procedure and that the warning had expired. It therefore varied the earlier recommendation to require that the letter be expunged and not referred to again.