The Labour Court rejected Deirdre Morgan’s penalisation appeal against Sandra Cooney’s Home Care Ltd, while leaving in place the earlier €1,500 unfair dismissal award. The decision was dated 20 June 2024.
Morgan, a home care assistant, said she was dismissed and otherwise penalised after raising concerns about a client’s care arrangements. Her employer argued that her email concerned scheduling and did not raise a health or safety issue.
The Court found that the email concerned rostering and did not amount to a protected act under health and safety law. It found the penalisation complaint was not well founded, disallowed the appeal and upheld the adjudication officer’s decision.
The €1,500 award arose from the earlier unfair dismissal finding, which said procedural deficiencies made the dismissal unfair. The adjudication officer also found that Morgan had significantly contributed to her dismissal. Her separate appeal against that decision was outside the statutory time limit, so it remained binding; the current penalisation appeal did not produce a new award.