{"id":661032,"date":"2026-10-21T03:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T03:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/661032\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T03:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T03:54:15","slug":"aviation-firm-co-founder-ousted-during-sick-leave-wins-e41000-for-unfair-dismissal-at-wrc-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/661032\/","title":{"rendered":"Aviation firm co-founder ousted during sick leave wins \u20ac41,000 for unfair dismissal at WRC \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An aviation maintenance firm which dismissed one of its co-founders while he was out of work sick following a breakdown in relations at the firm during a \u20ac1.2 million pay dispute has been awarded \u20ac41,000 at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gerry Burke secured the award against Magellan Aviation Services Ltd on foot of a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, following the termination of his employment in August 2023 after 33 years at the firm. <\/p>\n

Burke was a co-founder and managing director of the company prior to its acquisition in 2013 by the Tokyo-headquartered Marubeni Corporation, the WRC heard. <\/p>\n

Having been paid an \u201ceight-figure\u201d sum for his shareholding, Burke moved to Malta for tax reasons, and stepped down as managing director to a new post as director of special projects, the company\u2019s lawyers submitted. <\/p>\n

His base salary in that job was \u20ac80,000 \u2013 later increased to \u20ac88,000 \u2013 with health insurance, pension contribution and a contractual provision for a \u20ac305,000-a-year bonus, bringing his total annual remuneration to \u20ac369,786, his lawyers said. <\/p>\n

A preliminary objection by the company submitted that the Unfair Dismissals Act did not apply, arguing that Burke lived in Malta, carried out his work \u201centirely outside\u201d Ireland, and had his salary paid free of Irish income tax. This argument was rejected. <\/p>\n

\"\"Microsoft president Brad Smith: Ireland is \u201cwell-positioned for future of AI\u201d<\/p>\n

The company received tax advice in 2022 that it was unlawful to pay Burke his salary without deducting either Irish or Maltese tax, it was submitted.<\/p>\n

It sought to \u201cregularise\u201d the situation with a new contract increasing Burke\u2019s pay and requiring he pay income tax in Malta, but Burke rejected this, the company submitted further. <\/p>\n

Burke said in evidence that the allegations of \u201ctax evasion\u201d levelled at him by the firm were \u201cthrown in to discredit [him] and put a cloud over his reputation\u201d. He was \u201ctax-compliant in Ireland and in Malta\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

His position was that he had contacted Marubeni\u2019s compliance department in 2022 with what his lawyers submitted was a protected disclosure concerning the sale of the company, management practices, and certain pay and contract matters, the tribunal was told. <\/p>\n

It was Burke\u2019s case that an investigation into the pay and contract matters proceeded first, with a directive issued from Marubeni that Burke receive a 15 per cent pay rise, which was not actioned, his lawyers submitted further. <\/p>\n

The company\u2019s managing director, Niall Duggan, said that when he put the proposal to Burke at a meeting in Zurich, the complainant \u201csuggested that he would move to Dubai\u201d. <\/p>\n

Duggan added that Burke \u201cintended to sue [the company] if it took action to ensure that it complied with [Malta\u2019s] tax legislation\u201d. <\/p>\n

Burke agreed he had threatened an injunction but said that without the firm sharing its tax advice with him, he could not reasonably agree to the company\u2019s plans to establish a company in Malta and make him an employee there. <\/p>\n

In 2023, Duggan said, \u201cmatters became increasingly fractious\u201d, with Burke initiating a High Court action in Ireland and seeking to escalate the dispute to the leadership of the Marubeni Corporation in Japan. <\/p>\n

In March that year, Burke underwent \u201cserious surgery\u201d, his legal team submitted. The actions of Magellan caused him \u201cstress and strain\u201d and delayed his recovery, it was further submitted. <\/p>\n

After about five months\u2019 absence due to sick leave, the company terminated Burke\u2019s employment on the basis of disability, the tribunal noted. <\/p>\n

There was \u201can express contractual provision under which an executive is automatically deemed to have a disability following an extended absence from work due to ill-health\u201d in Burke\u2019s employment contract, the adjudication officer noted. <\/p>\n

Although Burke sought reinstatement as his preferred remedy for the dismissal, his legal papers calculated his total losses at more than \u20ac1.2 million, the WRC recorded. <\/p>\n

The WRC noted that Burke had alleged non-payment of salary going back to 2020, and had initiated separate proceedings in the High Court. <\/p>\n

Ruling the dismissal unfair, adjudicator Ewa Sobanska wrote: \u201cI cannot accept that other matters, some of them still remaining unresolved, had no impact on the respondent\u2019s decision to dismiss [Burke], Sobanska wrote. <\/p>\n

She was not satisfied the termination arose \u201cwholly or mainly\u201d due to any question of Burke\u2019s capability, she wrote. <\/p>\n

However, she found she could not order reinstatement on the basis of \u201cfractious relationships\u201d and \u201ctension between the parties\u201d. <\/p>\n

Sobanska wrote that \u20ac41,434.08, about six months\u2019 base salary, was a \u201cjust and equitable\u201d award for the dismissal. <\/p>\n

This was because she could not take Burke\u2019s claimed bonus payments into account, and she regarded his efforts to seek new work to be \u201cinadequate\u201d. <\/p>\n

Peter O\u2019Brien was for the respondent, instructed by solicitor Melvyn Hanley. Ercus Stewart appeared with Tom McGowan for the complainant, instructed by Edward Kelly of Holmes O\u2019Malley Solicitors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An aviation maintenance firm which dismissed one of its co-founders while he was out of work sick following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,6465],"class_list":["post-661032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661032","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=661032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}