Labour Court overturns Aaron O’Sullivan’s redundancy award

The Labour Court overturned Aaron O’Sullivan’s redundancy award after allowing his employer’s appeal. In a decision dated 15 May 2024, it found he had resigned to take another plumbing job and that no redundancy had occurred. O’Sullivan said he and four colleagues were told on 13 September 2021 that they would finish work that Friday because work was drying up. J & D Kearns Limited said it had mentioned possible temporary layoffs to motivate staff, but had no plan to lay anyone off. The company said O’Sullivan chose to leave for another job. The Court preferred the company’s account, noting that work remained at the Fermoy site. It found no temporary layoff had been implemented and no redundancy arose under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967. The Adjudication Officer had previously found O’Sullivan entitled to statutory redundancy pay; the Labour Court set that decision aside.