The Complainant, a solicitor, worked in a Solicitors’ firm for 10 years when it was bought over by the Respondent in November 2018. The Respondent sought to impose a new contract on the Complainant which included a probationary period, and stated that her start date would not take into account the previous 10 years that she had worked in the firm. The Respondent also informed the Complainant that they would not renew her Practising Certificate from the Law Society until he received the signed contract. The Complainant was also under considerable pressure to bring in fees to the company.

The Respondent had launched a new website which did not include the Complainant’s profile despite the fact that she had sent her profile to the Respondent three months prior to the launch. The Respondent failed to acknowledge the Complainant on a number of occasions and also stated that she was always late. The Complainant then submitted a number of grievances to the Respondent who failed to address them in any capacity. This left the Complainant with no other alternative but to terminate her employment with the Respondent. The Complainant contended that she was constructively dismissed.

The Respondent argued that the Complainant had failed to mitigate her loss. In reaching a decision, the Adjudication Officer stated that it was clear from the evidence that the changes to the Complainant’s contract amounted to a breach of the essential terms of the Complainant’s existing contract in place at the time of the transfer of undertakings. The Respondent also did not comply with its own procedures in relation to addressing the grievances put forward by the Complainant.

Accordingly, the Adjudicating Officer awarded the Complainant €9,100 compensation for loss of redundancy rights and €4,200 compensation for loss of earnings.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2020/february/adj-00022049.html