Grievances and Discipline Cases

Introduction Irish employment case law recognises the value of trust and confidence being present by both parties in an employment relationship. Ordinarily, when the trust and confidence between an employer and employee has been irrevocably broken, the relationship is unsalvageable and may lead to a dismissal or resignation, as applicable.  Breach of Trust and Confidence

Defining Gross Misconduct The established jurisprudence in relation to dismissal law in this jurisdiction takes a very restricted view of what constitutes “gross misconduct” justifying summary dismissal. In this regard, I note that the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) held in the case of Desmond Brennan -v- Institute of Technology Carlow UD281/2000 that: “Lawyers use the

Constructive Dismissal and Failure to use Internal Grievance Procedure In relation to constructive dismissal the Adjudicator in A Maintenance Supervisor v A Charity (ADJ 00002881) set out a comprehensive review which is worth quoting. For a claim of constructive dismissal to be properly brought under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015, the Complainant

Does an employee have the right to cross-examine witnesses in a workplace investigation? Generally, yes. To deny an employee the right to cross-examine a witness during a workplace investigation may amount to a breach of due process and fair procedure. Failure to allow employee to cross examine witnesses In Shop Assistant -v- Supermarket (ADJ-00026198), an

Disciplinary Process and Constructive Dismissal Can an employee who has been placed on an investigation and disciplinary process resign due to the unfairness of that process and later bring a claim for unfair dismissal by way of constructive dismissal? Ordinarily, in order to succeed in a claim for constructive dismissal, an employee will need to

Does an employee have a right to legal representation during a disciplinary process? No. An employee does not have an automatic right to legal representation during a disciplinary process. However, that right may arise if there are multiple legal issues to be addressed, the facts are complex, there are complicated procedural processed and the employee is

Reputation and the Law The importance of one’s professional reputation has been consistently recognised by the Irish courts, the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).  In a recent case (A HGV Lorry Driver -v- A Furniture Company (ADJ-00026562)), the WRC reaffirmed that the reputational consequences of a disciplinary process on an employee, should

Introduction What distinguishes a discussion from a disciplinary process? In a recent case before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and Labour Court, an employer was precluded from designating a discussion, as constituting a disciplinary process. This was due to a number of factors, but most importantly, as a result of the company not following its

Introduction – Lay-off or Suspension?  An interesting case recently arose wherein an employee claimed he was on lay-off, while the employer claimed he was suspended. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) examined the criteria it would analyze, when determining which category the employee fell into (ADJ-00026100). Section 7(1) of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-2015 provides:  “An