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Firing and Re-Hiring of Employee Costs Employer €20,000

In the case of A Van Driver v A Florist, the Complainant worked as a delivery driver for the Respondent Florist. Given the perishable nature of the flowers, the Complainants role was very important and he was under immense pressure to get through his deliveries each day. On 24th March 2017, Mother’s Day, the Complainant was dismissed after voicing his concerns about the number of deliveries that were being required of him. The Complainant was dismissed on the spot, relieved of his van and was forced to take a taxi home. There was subsequent correspondence between the Complainant and Respondent. Juxtaposing justifications were given by the Respondent for the Complainants dismissal with the Respondent’s General Manager purporting that the Complainant was dismissed due to the unavailability of work but in a subsequent email the Disciplinary history of the Complainant was set out.

This was the first the Complainant has seen of these disciplinary issues. In a remarkable turn of events, the Respondent asked the Complainant to return to work in May 2017, the reason for this was not disclosed by the Respondent. The Adjudicator considered this a continuity of service and that the dismissal that took place in March was invalid. The Claimant worked for the Respondent for a further 3 months until he was once again dismissed without warning. The Respondent attempted to justify the dismissal in a letter to the Complainant outlining a number of incidents which had occurred in July and August however, the Complainant had not been disciplined in respect of any of these alleged instances.

The Adjudicator found that the Complainant had been unfairly dismissed and awarded the Complainant 20,000 in respect of same. The Complainant was also awarded €400 and €250 in respect of his claim under Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act and Section 7 OF THE Terms of Employment Act.

Link

Anne O’Connell
Solicitors
Fitzwilliam Hall
Fitzwilliam Place
Dublin 2
www.aocsolicitors.ie



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