Driver awarded €5,200 for unfair dismissal after keg-delivery dispute

The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Sean Corcoran €5,200 for unfair dismissal and €2,720 for unpaid notice in a decision dated 23 March 2023. Corcoran had worked as a driver for Shannon Transport International Limited T/A Stl Logistics for about eight years before his dismissal. The dispute followed deliveries of undocumented beer kegs to a pub. Corcoran said the deliveries were part of an informal keg-swapping arrangement between pubs and that he had not been told the practice was prohibited. The company argued that the deliveries breached its procedures and amounted to gross misconduct. The WRC found no evidence that the company had told Corcoran the practice was prohibited, and said the evidence did not justify treating it as gross misconduct. It found the dismissal was disproportionate. The company had argued that Corcoran contributed 100% to his dismissal, but the WRC did not adopt that assertion. It found both complaints well founded and ordered €5,200 compensation for unfair dismissal and four weeks’ notice of €2,720, subject to lawful deductions.