The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Anatoliy Ludchenko €19,500 after finding that Harp Renewables Limited unfairly dismissed him. The decision, dated 9 January 2023, followed the company’s treatment of words he used at work as a resignation.
Ludchenko worked as a specialist welder, earning €975 gross a week. He said he had not resigned: he finished work on 23 November 2021, sought sick leave for the next two days and returned on 26 November, when he was told the company had accepted his resignation. The company said he had verbally resigned on 23 November and that it accepted his resignation.
The adjudication officer found the company was unreasonable to interpret his words as a resignation. His work that day and request for sick leave suggested he had spoken out of frustration, rather than made a clear decision to leave. The officer found that the company had ended the employment relationship and unfairly dismissed him.
The €19,500 compensation was equivalent to five months’ pay. The officer noted that Ludchenko found lower-paid work within three months and that he bore some responsibility for the situation because he had previously used threats to resign as a way to seek pay rises.