Labour Court rejects Servecentric unfair dismissal appeal as out of time

The Labour Court rejected Eddie Lyons’s appeal and upheld the original decision after finding his unfair dismissal claim was filed outside the statutory time limit. The determination, dated 12 December 2022, said the Court had no jurisdiction to hear the substantive matter; the merits were not decided. Lyons’s role as Servecentric’s chief executive ended by redundancy on 15 May 2020. He filed his claim with the WRC on 11 May 2021, nearly six months outside the usual time limit. He argued that he questioned the redundancy after learning that the CEO role had been filled in May 2021. The Court found that the later appointment did not provide a justifiable excuse for the delay. It held that the claim was statute barred and upheld the adjudicator’s finding that the complaint was not well founded.