EMPLOYMENT APPEALS TRIBUNAL
APPEAL(S) OF: CASE NO.
UD1023/2012
Employee UD1040/2012
and
Employer
Against the recommendation of the Rights Commissioner in the case of both parties:
under
UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACTS, 1977 TO 2007
I certify that the Tribunal
(Division of Tribunal)
Chairman: Ms. M. Levey B.L.
Members: Mr M. Noone
Ms M. Mulcahy
heard this appeal at Dublin on 6th January 2014
Representation:
____________
Appellant(s):
Ms. M.P. Guinness BL instructed by Ms. Anne Brennan, O'Mara Geraghty McCourt,
Solicitors, 51Northumberland Road, Dublin 4
Respondent(s):
Mr. Paul Gough, Eugene F Collins, Solicitors, Temple
Chambers, 3 Burlington Road, Dublin 4
The determination of the Tribunal was as follows:-
This case came before the Tribunal by way of appeals by both the employee and the employer against the recommendation of a rights commissioner reference r-110828-ud-11/RG dated 24 May 2012. The employee was seeking to have the recommendation varied whereas the employer was seeking to have the recommendation upset.
The employer conceded that it was in breach of fair procedures regarding the employee’s dismissal. The employee was dismissed in March 2011. The employee gave evidence of loss. After the employee was dismissed he felt very depressed. He received €188.00 per week disability benefit. He made numerous attempts to seek alternative employment after July 2011. He was certified on sick leave by his GP on a weekly basis. On the 20 September 2012 he was off disability benefit. He had fall from grace fifteen years ago for which he received a custodial sentence for the possession of cannabis. He outlined in detail to the Tribunal the efforts he made to obtain employment and he registered with two sales agencies. He was due to start a job on the 6 January 2014 with a salary of €18.000.00 per annum.
In cross examination the employee stated that he attended a centre for gambling and drugs and this centre also dealt with people who had things happen to them in the past. He became extremely depressed after he was dismissed. He agreed that his inability to secure a job had to do with his custodial sentence. After his custodial sentence ended he drove a taxi. He left school in 1985 and went overseas to play rugby in New Zealand and Australia. He studied business and marketing in Dublin.
Determination
The employer conceded that the dismissal of the employee was in breach of fair procedures and the Tribunal heard evidence of loss. Based on the agreed gross figure of €1029.79 per week the actual loss of the employee from the date he ceased disability benefit to date is in and around €68,000 and bearing in mind that the employee’s inability to get work is not wholly attributable to the dismissal, the Tribunal awards the employee compensation of €56,000.00 under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 2007 thus varying the recommendation of the Rights Commissioner and the employee’s appeal succeeds.
Sealed with the Seal of the
Employment Appeals Tribunal
This ________________________
(Sgd.) ________________________
(CHAIRMAN)