The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Li Ming Zhu €17,500 after finding Camseng International Foods (Ireland) Limited unfairly dismissed him without following disciplinary procedures. In a decision dated 19 July 2021, the WRC also awarded him €1,346.15 for two weeks’ minimum notice.
Zhu said he was dismissed after sending a customer account document to a customer using his personal phone. The company said sharing confidential information amounted to gross misconduct. The WRC found the document appeared to include information about other customers, but the managing director dismissed Zhu on the spot without following the company handbook’s disciplinary process or basic procedures for a fair dismissal.
The WRC rejected Zhu’s family status discrimination complaint, finding no evidence linked a role change to his family status. His separate paternity-leave claim was brought outside the time limit; the merits were not decided.