The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered Waterford and Wexford Education Training Board to pay Una Dunphy €55,000 compensation after finding she was unfairly dismissed. Adjudication Officer Gaye Cunningham’s decision is dated 24 September 2025.
The WRC found the Board had acted in a predetermined manner by stopping Dunphy’s pay without a formal investigation, and that dismissal was disproportionate given the inadequate investigation and failure to seriously consider alternatives or a transfer. The Board said it dismissed her for refusing instructions to work at Subla Youthreach Centre and for unauthorised absence.
Her protected-disclosure complaint was not well founded, and the separate claim about detriment from a 2013 placement was out of time. The WRC partly upheld her wages complaint, finding she was owed contractual sick pay for 16 weeks and ordering payment of 16 weeks’ pay less lawful statutory deductions.