The chief executive of a travel technology start-up has told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that the firm will have to “let go” the rest of its staff if it doesn’t secure more investor funding.
Challenged on his account of its financial position by a former worker, who referred to multiple transatlantic business trips, the company boss replied: “It’s not as if we’re going to Vegas.”
Software firm TripAdmit Ltd was defending a claim under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by salesman Graziano D’Amato, who lost his job at the company as a senior account manager for the Italian and English-speaking markets in May 2023.
The company’s chief executive, John Maguire, told the tribunal it had opened for business in 2019, just 11 months before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and was still relying heavily on investment fundraising to stay in business.
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He said that due to a combination of a lack of funding and investment it had “reduced headcount” from 14 to seven – Mr D’Amato having been the first to go.
“If we can’t raise the remainder of funding, we will have to let go the remainder of staff,” he said.
The chief executive told the tribunal he had “clearly outlined that [Mr D’Amato’s] job was at risk” at monthly sales meetings in February and March 2023 and that the complainant was missing his target of signing up 10 new clients a month.
It had been made clear to Mr D’Amato he was stepping into a “challenging role with aggressive targets” when he joined the firm in September 2021, he added.
“Graziano only ever achieved 46 per cent of his target over the period, and only achieved the target once in 19 months. Of those clients, only 9 per cent, so one in 10, ever generated revenue for TripAdmit, which is far below anything that we required,” Mr Maguire said.
“We’re a loss-making company. We can’t sustain losses indefinitely,” he said.
“Due to our size, TripAdmit doesn’t have a HR dept,” Mr Maguire said, adding that Mr D’Amato was the first employee it had let go and that the company had “since got advice”.
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“It was never our intention to cut corners or fall foul of any standards. Admittedly the termination reason as per the notice of termination could have been worded better, however given the conversations... in our opinion it was clearly communicated that his performance needed to improve,” Mr Maguire said.
Mr D’Amato said the reason given to him by his former line manager differed from the explanation Mr Maguire had provided to the WRC.
“[The line manager] didn’t mention sales performance. Basically, the customers using the TripAdmit software were not generating enough revenue – that’s the wording in the letter. That’s the essential point in all this – he’s telling me the customers aren’t making money. It’s not because I was not hitting the target,” Mr D’Amato said.
Mr D’Amato said his termination letter read: “Unfortunately we have to let you go because the performance of your customers, they’re not what we want.”
“He never said you are under warning, in any shape or form. I regard myself as professional in any sense, I regard myself as a fluent English speaker, so if we ever had a chat about it, I would understand. I never received an formal warning in any shape.”
Mr D’Amato then produced a document and laid it before adjudicating officer David James Murphy.
“What about this article that came up a few weeks ago where he went to London? If you have a shortage of funding, you don’t go to America twice, to the trade show,” he said.
“I’m passionate about my work, I never lie in my life... if you tell me: ‘You were under warning’, I should know, that’s what I’m telling you. I don’t want to use other words but that’s the truth,” he said.
“Now he’s telling me I didn’t hit the target, basically I’m stupid because I didn’t understand I was under warning,” the complainant said.
“Can I say, I didn’t say that,” Mr Maguire interjected.
“No, I say myself, no worries,” Mr D’Amato replied.
In reply, Mr Maguire said: “With regard to fundraising and trips to London... we’re an international business, that’s part of doing business, we fly as cheap as we can, we stay as cheap as we can, if we don’t do it we can’t grow our business.
“It’s not as if we’re going to Vegas flippantly, staying in five-star hotels and having a ball,” he added.
The complainant said he was still out of work more than eight months on from his dismissal. Asked whether he could show proof of job applications in order to demonstrate efforts to mitigate his losses, the complainant said he had “a folder full of them”.
Mr Maguire said it was “really really difficult” to find sales people of Mr D’Amato’s level in Ireland. “I would question how hard it is to actually find a sales job,” he said.
The adjudicator, Mr Murphy, asked Mr D’Amato to submit any documentary evidence of his job-hunting by email to the WRC by the end of this week and said he would give Mr Maguire until next Wednesday to respond in writing.
He said he would deliver his decision in writing to the parties at a later date.
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