The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Aidan Cody €32,668, described as four months’ pay, after finding his dismissal by Dupont Nutrition Ireland unfair. In a decision dated 25 August 2023, it also awarded him €5,000 for a separate breach of fixed-term work rules.
Cody worked as a Production Operator from April 2019 until May 2021. The company said his role ended when the employee he was covering returned from leave. Cody argued that the dismissal process was unfair and that he had not received written information about his fixed-term contract renewals.
The WRC found the dismissal both substantially and procedurally unfair, citing shortcomings in the grievance process and a failure to consider lay-off as an alternative. It also found a breach of the requirement, where practicable, to consider giving employee representatives information about fixed-term work. A separate complaint about written information was out of time and not well founded.