The employee in this case was a fork lift driver of around a year and a half's service who was successful in his case at the Rights Commissioner stage, where the Rights Commissioner recommended €15k compensation. The employer appealed to the EAT.
The employer explained that the employee was not a good one and had a list of warnings for various shortfalls, including a failure to complete tasks unloading perishable goods from lorries to cold stores. He was eventually dismissed for allegedly damaging a forklift and doors to the cold store - the employer considered him to be a health and safety risk.
Unfortunately for the employer, they made some fundamental errors in carrying out their dismissal procedures. For example, the employee who witnessed the respondent hitting the doors on the day of dismissal was not present at the meeting as he did not want to get involved. The employee had also refused to attend the Tribunal hearing. The manager had not received any other reports of drivers hitting the doors during his time there.
Furthermore, the decision to dismiss appears to have been made before the disciplinary hearing - the employer's witness at the EAT read out the letter of dismissal, paid the employee his holiday pay and the employee left shortly after.
At the outset of the hearing the appellant company acknowledged that there were deficiencies in the appellant’s procedures, and the EAT noted this in their decision, which was to uphold the Rights Commissioner's recommendation of an award of €15k.
http://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/Cases/2015/July/UD689_2014.html
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