The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Graham Hopkins €24,570 after finding his dismissal by Kirby Group unfair. The decision was dated 30 March 2022.
Hopkins worked as a general worker from May 2016 until December 2019. He said he was selected for redundancy after raising concerns about his pay and duties operating a teleporter. Kirby Group said the Galway project had ended, his role was no longer needed and it had no suitable transfer available.
The adjudicator found there had been no genuine consultation, no exploration of alternatives and no consideration of Hopkins’s skills for other roles. Agency workers continued doing his work, and the company had not shown that the role itself was redundant. The dismissal was therefore unfair.
The WRC awarded compensation equivalent to nine months’ wages, using weekly pay of €682.50. It also considered Hopkins’s efforts to find work and the wider labour market when calculating the €24,570 award.