The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council employee Raymond Hammett €1,817 after finding his dismissal procedurally unfair. The decision was dated 1 November 2023.
The Council said it dismissed Hammett for continued unauthorised absence and refusal to return to work. The WRC accepted that dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses available to an employer, but found the disciplinary and appeal processes substantially unfair and inconsistent with the Council’s procedures.
The adjudication officer found Hammett’s contribution to his dismissal significant and said he made no meaningful efforts to reduce his loss. The decision also records net self-employed income of €14,331 from September 2022 to August 2023. Two other complaints, under minimum notice and working time laws, were withdrawn; a separate complaint under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act was found not well founded.