An employee of a software company in Ireland was awarded €329,199 by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for being unfairly dismissed on the grounds of serious misconduct, which is the largest ever award for unfair dismissal in Ireland. The employee had claimed that the investigation leading to his dismissal did not follow the procedures set out in the employee handbook, that he should have been afforded the right to legal representation due to the complexity of the process, and that the employer had made its mind up to dismiss the employee well in advance of completing the internal disciplinary procedure.  

 

The Adjudication Officer found that the employer’s decision to dismiss the employee was unreasonable, substantively and procedurally unfair, and that the employer failed to provide adequate warning and training to the employee. The Adjudication Officer determined that the employee’s annual remuneration of €306,294 was reasonable, and the employee had been unemployed for over two years before obtaining a new job that paid substantially less than his previous one. The maximum award which an Adjudication Officer can make for unfair dismissal claims is 104 weeks remuneration, which in this case would amount to €438,932. The Adjudication Officer decided that the award made was equal to 75% of the loss calculated by the employee. 

 

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