EMPLOYMENT APPEALS TRIBUNAL
CLAIM(S) OF: CASE NO.
Ian Stewart UD302/2014
MN56/2014
against
Post Publications Limited
under
UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACTS, 1977 TO 2007
MINIMUM NOTICE AND TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT ACTS, 1973 TO 2005
I certify that the Tribunal
(Division of Tribunal)
Chairman: Mr. J. Revington SC
Members: Mr. G. McAuliffe
Mr. J. Flannery
heard this case in Dublin on 1 April 2015
Representation:
_______________
Claimant(s):
Mr. Hugh Hegarty for Mr Vernon Hegarty, SIPTU,
8th Floor, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1
Respondent(s):
Ask HR Solutions Ltd,
Melco House, 1 Goatstown Road, Dublin 14
The determination of the Tribunal was as follows:-
The Tribunal heard sworn testimony from the claimant and from PC (CEO of the respondent). It was not accepted that the respondent had sufficiently listened before making the claimant redundant. Consultation would have brought out more fully that the claimant could do more than driving albeit that he had been doing driving duties for the last four years of his lengthy service. The Tribunal was not impressed by the fact that the respondent was prepared to meet the claimant and his union representative but that a meeting could end within a couple of minutes. The Tribunal accepts that the respondent was under severe financial pressure at that time but alternatives to redundancy for the claimant could have been given greater consideration. The respondent’s position was that it wanted to retain the staff who could be most useful to the respondent in the future but the Tribunal was not pleased by how easily the respondent dispensed with an employee of long service. The LIFO policy of the claimant’s union seemed to have been given little if any thought by the respondent.
Allowing the claim under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 2007, the Tribunal, in all the circumstances of the case, deems it just and equitable to award the claimant compensation of twenty thousand euro in addition to the redundancy lump sum already paid to the Tribunal.
In addition, the Tribunal allowing the claim made under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts, 1973 to 2005, awards the claimant the sum of €5,154.00 (this amount being equivalent to four weeks’ gross pay at €1,288.50 per week). The Tribunal acknowledges that the claimant was already paid for four of his eight-week entitlement but does not view shares as an acceptable substitute for the balance of his entitlement.
Sealed with the Seal of the
Employment Appeals Tribunal
This ________________________
(Sgd.) ________________________
(CHAIRMAN)