Workplace Relations Commission (WRC)<\/a>. <\/p>\nThe tribunal found that the company, operator of a convenience store and filling station in Charlestown, Co Mayo, had presented evidence backing up its position that Kilcoyne\u2019s job had become redundant in 2024. <\/p>\n
However, the dismissal was rendered unfair because of procedural deficiencies with the firm\u2019s redundancy process, the tribunal found. <\/p>\n
Kilcoyne initially joined the company in November 2016 as one of the staff in a Spar store at the premises, but soon \u201cbecame the main cash office person\u201d, the WRC recorded in a decision published on Monday. <\/p>\n
At that time, so much cash was being counted and balanced at the business that it warranted a part-time role and a cash office, the tribunal noted. <\/p>\n
Kilcoyne worked three hours a day up to lunchtime five days a week doing the work, the tribunal heard. <\/p>\n
Area manager Damian O\u2019Donnell said in evidence the business had gone from doing 70 per cent of its transactions in cash to just 30 per cent when it eliminated Kilcoyne\u2019s position. <\/p>\n
\u201cMoney was tight and the role of a cash officer was gone,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He said when a job in a Supermac\u2019s restaurant on the grounds of the forecourt was proposed to Kilcoyne, she said she \u201cdid not want to work for Supermac\u2019s\u201d, the tribunal noted.<\/p>\n
The employer\u2019s position was that its Charlestown service station was the last remaining location operating a cash office, the tribunal heard. <\/p>\n
Another company witness, human resources manager Jacinta Greene, said Kilcoyne was \u201chonest, trustworthy and reliable\u201d. <\/p>\n
While management had hoped the complainant would stay, a review of labour costs found it \u201cwas not sustainable to keep her\u201d. <\/p>\n
The complainant\u2019s evidence was that she was \u201ctalked to like she was nothing\u201d and asked \u201cdid she think she was management, because she wasn\u2019t\u201d, the WRC recorded. <\/p>\n
Kilcoyne said in evidence that the sustainability of the cash office was discussed at a review meeting in 2023, which she described as \u201cawful\u201d. <\/p>\n
Later, she said she was told the cash officer post was \u201cnot being invested in\u201d and her options were to wait until the end of the summer for a decision on redundancy or request it straight away. <\/p>\n
She said she was \u201ctraining someone in\u201d on cash office duties at the time, and couldn\u2019t understand the situation. <\/p>\n
Kilcoyne was still employed in March 2024, when she was given written notice she was at risk of redundancy and told at a meeting there was \u201cno office position at Charlestown any more\u201d. <\/p>\n
She disputed that there had been a redundancy on the basis that she had trained up colleagues on the work and she believed the task was still being done. <\/p>\n
Adjudicator Louise Boyle wrote in her decision that it seemed from the evidence that the role of a cash officer occupied by the complainant \u201cwas redundant due to a decline in cash and increased card use by customers\u201d. <\/p>\n
However, the business\u2019s consideration of alternatives to redundancy was \u201csomewhat arbitrary\u201d, there was no right of representation for the complainant, and no appeals process, she ruled. <\/p>\n
This made the complainant\u2019s dismissal unfair on procedural grounds, Ms Boyle wrote. <\/p>\n
She awarded Kilcoyne \u20ac800 in compensation for unfair dismissal \u2013 four weeks\u2019 wages. <\/p>\n
The business was also found in breach of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 as it had failed to provide Kilcoyne with updated terms of employment when her duties changed. <\/p>\n
Ms Boyle awarded \u20ac450 for the breach, bringing the total compensation awarded to Ms Kilcoyne to \u20ac1,250<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A service station firm owned by Supermacs boss Pat McDonagh and his wife has been ordered to pay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,1962,6465],"class_list":["post-420507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-work","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}