Background:

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent as a general operative in the Respondent’s drug production line on 30 August 2021.A management witness for the Respondent alleged the Complainant did not perform well in the role and that the Respondent’s managers had decided in early July 2022 to dismiss the Complainant before he acquired one year’s service and therefore the protection of Unfair Dismissals Act 1977. The Respondent alleged that the Complainant’s manger, Mr Todd, called the Complainant and dismissed him over the telephone by reading a dismissal letter out to him. However, due to administrative error, the Respondent did not issue this letter to the Complainant.

The Complainant denied being dismissed in July 2022. Instead, he alleged that he was injured in a motor vehicle accident and as a result suffered ill-health that prevented his regular attendance at his workplace after Mr Todd’s call of 5 July 2022. The Complainant did not submit his sick certs on an ongoing basis, but instead said he submitted them (with some periods uncertified) to the receptionist of the Respondent when he returned to work on 2 September 2022. The Respondent disputes having received any sick certs at this time. The Complainant worked on several days until 13 September 2022, when a manager of the Respondent advised him he was dismissed and told him to leave the premises. The Respondent alleges the Complainant chose to return at this time as the Complainant’s manager, Mr Todd, was on annual leave at this time.

Outcome:

The Adjudciation Officer, noting that this is “a very unuaul case based on an equally unusual set of facts,” found that the Complainant was dismissed by the Respondent through the phone call of Mr Todd on 5 July 2022. Following that dismissal, the Complainant was paid everything due to him other than a notice payment required by law. The Adjudication Officer found, based on the evidence, that the Complainant knew he had been dismissed but attempted to “slip himself back in under the radar” when Mr Todd was on annual leave. Having found the date of dismissal was less than one year from his date of employment, the Adjudication Officer found she did not have jurisdiction over the Unfair Dismissals Act claim, and only awarded €450 compensation for a week’s wages under the Minimum Notice and Terms and Conditions of Employment Act 1973.

Practical Guidance for Employers:

Employees attempting to resume employment after having been dismissed isn’t just a sitcom scenario – it can happen without proper controls. Production facilities must be especially careful about attendance control, and if an access point blocks the attendance of an employee, it should be standard to confirm the employee’s status prior to granting any access.

The full case is here: https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/october/adj-00043857.html