The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Muiris Flynn €4,000 after finding he was unfairly dismissed by Iarnrod Eireann. The decision was dated 19 October 2022. The WRC also found that Flynn’s conduct was a significant contributing factor to the dismissal.
Flynn worked as an electrician for the rail operator. After he received a four-year prison sentence, with the final 30 months suspended, the company said his imprisonment had frustrated his employment contract and that it needed to recruit another electrician. Flynn argued that his contract had continued and that the company had not consulted him before ending it.
The WRC noted that Iarnrod Eireann treated the employment relationship as continuing for about four months after Flynn’s imprisonment and gave him notice. It also found there had been no consultation and no direct evidence that the employer had examined the relevant factors. The decision said Flynn’s absence was a hardship and inconvenience, but had not required his employment to end. A similar case cited by the WRC involved an 85% contribution to dismissal; this decision described Flynn’s conduct as a significant contributing factor without assigning him a percentage. The separate minimum notice complaint was not well founded because the company had paid him in respect of his notice.