Sacked financial adviser wins €48,000 at WRC
A financial adviser who said she 'never made' purported remarks that her employer called an 'instantly sackable offence' and was not given a chance to address the claims has won over €48,000 for unfair dismissal.
A
Workplace Relations Commission
(WRC) adjudicator found the employee was denied any opportunity to 'challenge her accusers' on serious bullying allegations when she was sacked in July 2024 without being given the precise details of what was alleged against her.
The employee, Caitriona Nic Aodha, secured the sum on foot of complaints under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 and the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 against AFS Wealth Management and Insurance Advisers Ltd, which trades as Abbey Wealth.
Ms Nic Aodha had worked at the company as a financial adviser earning €45,000 per annum plus commission for around three and a half years when it was bought out by new management in February 2022, the WRC heard.
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On Wednesday 24th January 2024, she arranged for a meeting human resources the following day with a view to file a grievance alleging 'bullying' by Vesper France, the chief executive officer's (CEO) wife and office manager, she said.
At 8.59am the following morning, she told the WRC, she received an email from the company's CEO, Victor France, and found herself locked out of the company systems two minutes later.
Mr France gave evidence that he received a phone call from an employee identified only as 'Ms E'. This worker told him about alleged remarks by Ms Nic Aodha to the effect that the business would 'go bust', Mr France said.
He said Ms E also recounted an allegedly 'disturbing conversation' with Ms Nic Aodha about a medical issue suffered by Ms E, which Ms E was upset about.
Mr France said he was 'very angry' about this and considered it an 'instantly sackable offence' – and decided to suspend Ms Nic Aodha on full pay after consulting with his HR advisers.
Ms E's complaint 'led to a number of other complaints' from other employees, he added.
The tribunal heard that Ms France, the CEO's wife, filed a human resources (HR) complaint of her own against Ms Nic Aodha on 7 February 2024, alleging the complainant was 'hostile' with her, 'mimicked' her in one meeting, and had made a 'demand' for €25,000 'in her bank account by the end of the week as a loyalty reward'.
After nearly six months on suspension with no apparent progress, Ms Nic Aodha wrote to Mr France on 17th June. She told him she had made 'countless attempts' to engage with him and that the CEO had been 'rude and abrupt' in response.
She wrote that on the date of her correspondence he had told her: 'I'm not in the mood for this,' and hung up on her.
Mr France dismissed her by email a month later, telling her the company investigation had concluded she had committed gross misconduct.
Mr France's initial evidence to the WRC was that it was his understanding that Ms Nic Aodha spoke to an investigator before her sacking.
At a later point in the proceedings, the tribunal noted, he said he wished to 'correct the record' and said he was 'incorrect' in this belief and accepted he had 'no knowledge' of what happened, the decision recorded.
When Mr France's evidence about her purported remarks was put to Ms Nic Aodha, she said she 'never made the alleged comments'.
Questioned on her efforts to find new work after her dismissal, Ms Nic Aodha said she had applied for 'approximately 2,000 jobs' between August 2024 and the WRC hearings this spring.
She said that she was putting six or seven hours a day into looking for work in the financial services sector and beyond, and had attended 30 interviews to no avail.
Ms Nic Aodha's evidence was that when she was asked about leaving her old employment in the course of her job search, she had answered with the truth, that she was 'dismissed for gross misconduct'.
She told the commission the effort was 'becoming soul-destroying' and that she 'eased off' on the job hunt between November 2024 and January 2025.
Adjudication officer John Harraghy wrote in his decision that anyone facing a disciplinary process had the right to a 'full and fair opportunity to state his or her case' and to 'challenge his or her accusers'.
Mr Harraghy wrote that Ms Nic Aodha's had approached her job search with the required 'resolve' in the circumstances of the case and had eased off at points because it was 'strenuous and futile'.
These rights 'cannot be ignored' with a worker facing dismissal as a sanction, but had been denied to Ms Nic Aodha, he wrote. She was sacked without notice without being given the specifics of the allegations against her or involving her in either an investigation or a disciplinary process, he noted.
He rejected Ms Murphy's argument that the 2,000 job applications in the period were not enough and wrote that the manner of the claimant's dismissal created 'difficulties' in finding new work, though it had not been a 'complete barrier'.
Upholding her complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, he directed the company to pay her €45,000 in compensation.
The award for unfair dismissal reflected a loss of earnings of €35,465 during the period Ms Nic Aodha spent out of work, a further €7,500 for the loss of statutory redundancy entitlements, and a further €2,500 relating to pension benefits.
The WRC also directed the payment of a further €3,460, four weeks' salary, for the notice pay denied to Ms Nic Aodha when the company purported to terminate her for gross misconduct.
Nicola Murphy of Peninsula Business Services appeared for the company before the WRC, while Ms Nic Aodha represented herself as a lay litigant.
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