Patrick Murphy was awarded €10,000 after the Workplace Relations Commission found he had been unfairly dismissed by Coca-Cola HBC Ireland Limited t/a Coca-Cola. The decision was dated 17 January 2023.
Murphy had worked for the company since 2000. It dismissed him for gross misconduct after irregularities were identified in cooler-scan records. He denied falsifying records and said he had covered a colleague’s route.
The adjudicator found the company had followed a fair process, but had not properly weighed Murphy’s clean disciplinary record, strong performance and lack of financial gain. The dismissal fell outside the range of reasonable responses. The adjudicator also found Murphy contributed substantially to his dismissal, by no less than 80%, and awarded €10,000 compensation.
The separate minimum-notice complaint was found to have been brought outside the time limit and was not well founded; the merits were not decided.