WRC recently awarded €40,000 to Travel Consultant for unfair dismissal

In this Case, a Travel Consultant made a claim alleging that her termination of employment by way of a flawed redundancy procedure amounted to unfair dismissal.

In determining the claim, the Adjudicator was highly critical of the Respondent’s reliance on seasonal web enquiry data to build a business case justifying the redundancy. To present a seasonal differential as evidence of a sustained decline in business demand did not constitute a credible basis upon which to ground a redundancy decision.

In noting that the Complainant was the sole individual selected for redundancy, the Adjudicator also queried why the Respondent failed to provide objective selection criteria or any form of comparative assessment as part of the selection process and consultation procedure.

The Respondent also appointed an external candidate to a role which the Complainant believed was a role to which she could be redeployed. The Adjudicator noted that where an Employee has already demonstrated the capacity to operate at the required level and possesses virtually all of the competencies for the role, reliance on an external candidate’s interview performance alone was a relatively weak basis for asserting that a redundancy was unavoidable.

This decision and level of compensation serve as a recent reminder that redundancy is one of the most technical and heavily scrutinised areas of employment law, and Organisations should proceed with extreme caution, ensuring both the business rationale and the selection process can stand up to detailed legal examination before confirming any redundancy dismissal.

To learn more about partnering with Adare Trusted People Partners’ Leading HR & Employment Law Experts, please contact Neil McCormack at nmccormack@adarehrm.ie today.