Failure to Pay Wages Lead to Unfair Dismissal

The recent case of An Employee v An Academic Instititution ADJ-00021244 highlights the dangers for an employer of presuming that an employee has resigned or intends to resign. In this case the employer stopped paying the employee thus leading to the end of the contract of employment.The Adjudicator at the Workplace Relations Commission stated“It is noted that the Complainant did not provide the Respondent with any form of communication indicating he had either resigned or abandoned his position…….Further, even in consideration of the fraught relationship between the parties, I find that having regard to all the circumstances, there were no ‘substantial’ grounds justifying the dismissal of the Complainant. In all of the aforementioned circumstances, I find that the Respondent has failed to justify the dismissal of the Complainant and therefore his claim must succeed”.In this case the employee was awarded €4,500.00 in respect of unfair dismissal.