Sarah McGovern was awarded €10,400 for unfair dismissal after the WRC found her employer failed to consult meaningfully about her redundancy, consider alternatives or provide an appeal. The WRC also awarded her €1,600 over the failure to provide written terms of employment.
Adjudication officer Breiffni O'Neill dated the decision 8 August 2022. McGovern, a sales assistant, said she was put on temporary lay-off after telling her employer she was pregnant. She later found a new employee doing her day-to-day tasks and understood she had been dismissed when told the company had ceased trading.
The respondent, Niall Cusack Cusack Electrical/ Cusack Lighting/ Cusack Elecrical Ltd, did not attend the hearing. The WRC found the dismissal was by reason of redundancy, but unfair because the employer had not meaningfully consulted McGovern or considered alternative roles, and gave her no appeal. The respondent also failed to provide evidence to counter her complaint that she had received no written terms.
The dismissal award was 26 weeks’ compensation. The officer noted there was no evidence McGovern had sought alternative work apart from taking a training course, but found she had made no contribution to the dismissal and did not reduce the award on that basis.