The Labour Court upheld a €3,700 award to Gerry Davis after rejecting his appeal over the finding that he contributed 90% to his dismissal. The Court’s determination was dated 16 May 2017.
Davis worked as a field services operative, mainly at Enva Ireland Limited T/A Enva’s Portlaoise depot. At an Irish Rail site in Mallow, Co Cork, he crossed live railway lines without high-visibility clothing and crossed again after a station master reprimanded him.
Davis argued that the incident was human error in distressing circumstances and that the 90% contribution finding was excessive. Enva said it had dismissed him after a fair investigation into serious safety breaches. The Court noted his safety training and that he repeated the crossing after being reprimanded. It accepted that Enva had lost confidence in his ability to recognise safety risks and found it was not unreasonable to decline to offer him another role.
Enva had not appealed the finding of unfair dismissal, and the Court left that finding undisturbed. It upheld the original decision, including the 90% contribution finding, and ordered Enva to pay Davis €3,700 within six weeks.