A recent case from the Workplace Relations Commission in December 2019 deals with the issue of performance and unfair dismissal. Here an employee was dismissed for failing to reach company targets over a period of time. The employee was awarded 9,500 euro compensation for unfair dismissal.The WRC found inter alia that proper and fair procedure had not been followed and noted“….However, it is clear that the warnings which led to the dismissal lacked any evidence of fair procedures and the respondent failed to give consideration to any other alternative to dismissal. While it was noted in Meath County Council v. Creighton UD11/1977and in Carr v. Alexander Russell Ltd (1976) IRLR220 that ‘An employer may be able to justify a procedural omission if it meets the onus of proving that, despite the omission, it acted reasonably in the circumstances in deciding to dismiss an employee’ I find that the proceedings were not conducted fairly and I find that the decision to dismiss the complainant was unreasonable and unfair and that the claim is well founded”The case also deals with issues of natural justice, fair procedure and the obligation on an employee to mitigate their losses.A full copy of the decision can be found here.
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