This case came before Mr Justice Max Barrett in the High Court following the Labour Court’s decision which concluded that the Employer’s decision to dismiss the Appellant was fair.

The Appellant (Mr McCormack) had been employed at Ashford Castle Hotel since 2003 and was promoted to the role of concierge in 2011. The Appellant then went out sick leave on the 5th of November 2014 and remained absent from work on sick leave until his dismissal on October 4, 2017.

The Appellant lodged a claim for unfair dismissal to the WRC proceedings who dismissed the claim on the basis that the Respondent’s termination of the Appellant’s employment was reasonable in all of the circumstances pertaining at that time and the claim was not well founded.  The Appellant appealed to the Labour Court who upheld the decision of the WRC, finding that  the Employer, Ashford Castle Ltd, honestly believed that the Appellant “was incapable of carrying out the work he was employed to do as a result of his ill health”.

The Appellant submitted a number of different grounds on which to allow an appeal, such as that the Labour Court had erred in law by not allowing reasonable accommodation for the Appellant.

The High Court dismissed the appeal.  Mr Justice Barrett stated that following review of the submissions given by the Appellant, he could not identify any area of law on which would ground a successful appeal.

The High Court judge, Mr Justice Max Barrett, penned a letter to the Appellant explaining his decision and which he attached to his 10-page judgement. Mr Justice Barrett stated “I am always concerned that an employee should be told in plain language what I have decided in a judgment that affects them. That is why I have added this 'plain English' note to you. Everyone else in the case will get to read it, but really it is written for you,” the judge said.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Max Barrett said there was nothing in the Labour Court determination or the other evidence before the court which suggested, let alone established, that it was anything other than fair and appropriate for the Labour Court to reach the decision it did.

Mr Justice Barrett further stated that the Appellant had the sympathy of the court that he found himself dismissed as he was but there was nothing in the evidence before the court which established on the balance of probabilities, that there were any errors of law made by the Labour Court in this case.

Guidance for Employers

Despite potentially having the sympathy of the court for circumstances where an employee has been on sick leave, an employee must show that the employer failed to adopt fair procedures or that a decision to dismiss was for some other perhaps, discriminatory reason, to establish that a dismissal (in this case for ill-health) was unfair. 
https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/348c6534-e60c-4462-9208-9e359c7de6ef/2022_IEHC_188.pdf/pdf#view=fitH