The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Noelle Gorman €8,000 after finding that Mullingar Electrical Wholesale Limited T/a The Lighting Showroom unfairly dismissed her. The decision was dated 18 November 2021.
Gorman worked as a retail sales assistant and later assistant manager at the showroom. She said she was dismissed on 5 June 2020 after asking whether it would reopen; the company said she had resigned in March. The adjudication officer preferred Gorman’s account, finding that her employment ended when the manager told her her services were no longer needed.
The WRC found the company gave no justification for the dismissal and followed no dismissal procedure or appeal process. It awarded €8,000, just under six months’ gross salary, after finding Gorman’s evidence of efforts to find work insufficient for part of the period following her dismissal, while taking account of pandemic restrictions and her later healthcare qualification and employment.