The WRC awarded Gráinne O' Hara €10,000 after finding that Zeus Packaging Group unfairly selected her for redundancy during the pandemic. The decision was dated 1 November 2021. The officer found that a genuine redundancy situation existed, but Zeus did not show that it had fairly assessed her skills against those of her colleagues.
O' Hara worked as a Business Sales Executive. Zeus said the pandemic had sharply affected its business and led to six redundancies, including four in her department. O' Hara accepted that the company was under financial pressure but challenged how it selected her and said she had not been properly considered for other roles.
The officer found that O' Hara had not been given a proper opportunity to have her views considered in the selection process. The officer also found that the consultation largely communicated a decision that had already been made, rather than giving her a meaningful chance to influence it.
The €10,000 award was for wages lost because of the dismissal and is subject to lawful deductions. The officer reduced it by about 50% after finding O' Hara's evidence of job applications unreliable. Because she had also received a redundancy payment, the decision said she could not keep both payments and that the redundancy payment must be repaid.