The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Deirdre Egan €1,620 after finding Swancrest Ltd had failed to provide her with written terms of employment. The decision, dated 7 March 2023, also found her unfair dismissal complaint was not well founded.
Egan worked as a medical secretary for Swancrest from August 2020 until July 2021, earning €405 gross a week. She said she was dismissed without warning after raising concerns about patient STC forms, including being directed to sign patients’ names on them. Swancrest denied she had made a protected disclosure and said it had received complaints about her conduct and performance.
The adjudication officer preferred Swancrest’s evidence and did not accept that Egan had made a protected disclosure. With less than 12 months’ service, she could not bring the unfair dismissal claim on that basis, which was found not well founded. Swancrest accepted it had not provided written employment terms. The WRC found that complaint well founded and awarded four weeks’ salary as compensation.