The Workplace Relations Commission found Gráinne Sherlock was unfairly dismissed by Pluralsight Ireland Ltd and awarded her €112,000 in compensation. The decision was dated 1 July 2024.
Sherlock said her redundancy selection was predetermined and lacked transparency. Pluralsight said it had restructured its teams and fairly selected five leaders from a group of eight for new roles.
The WRC accepted there was a genuine redundancy situation but found the company had not shown that Sherlock was fairly selected. She had not been told that the interview assessed her for any of the five roles, and the company did not establish her ranking or show she had been fairly compared with the other candidates. The WRC also found the consultation did not meaningfully revisit the decision and that the company acted unreasonably by not engaging with her request for an extension while she pursued another internal role.
The award reflected assessed losses including salary, on-target earnings, cash equity payments and a performance bonus. It included a 50% reduction for the period after 12 September 2023, when the WRC found Sherlock’s job search efforts were insufficiently consistent.