Gerard Hoary was awarded €40,000 after the Workplace Relations Commission found he was unfairly selected for redundancy and unfairly dismissed by Charles Hurst (Dublin) Limited t/a Usedirect Ireland. The decision was dated 7 December 2023.
The adjudication officer accepted that the company faced a genuine redundancy situation during the 2020 downturn. But the company did not explain why Hoary’s Service Manager position was selected instead of one of three workshop roles, and presented no evidence that it considered redeploying him as a technician, a job he had previously done. The officer found the consultation did not genuinely explore alternatives and that the selection process was unfair and unreasonable.
The company said falling vehicle sales required cost cuts and that it had followed a fair process. In setting compensation, the officer considered that Hoary had not applied for a technician vacancy and had provided evidence of four job applications. She accepted that he visited car dealers seeking work, but found his efforts fell short of a reasonable standard. The award excluded six months without evidenced applications and two months when he could not work after an injury and surgery; it reflected a maximum of 16 months’ loss.