Labour Court upholds time-limit decision on Dean O'Brien's unfair-dismissal complaint

The Labour Court upheld the Adjudication Officer's decision that Dean O'Brien's unfair-dismissal complaint was outside the time limit and that no reasonable cause justified extending it. The Court signed its determination on 11 November 2021. It considered only the time-limit issue, leaving the merits of the dismissal complaint undecided. O'Brien worked for Thermopro Ltd from 15 January 2018 until his dismissal on 28 January 2019, and referred his complaint to the WRC on 20 November 2019. He relied on difficult family circumstances and said a human-resources practitioner advised him of his rights around July or August 2019. Thermopro Ltd argued that he had secured alternative work and later become self-employed. The Court said he had not shown that, without the family circumstances, he would probably have complained in time; it also noted the further three or four months between the advice and his complaint.