A highly qualified marketing manager is claiming constructive dismissal from her former employer Dell and is seeking compensation for loss of earnings since her departure from the company in July, a Dublin employment tribunal heard yesterday.
Margaret Crockett, a 43-year- old mother of two, claims she was forced to leave the company last year after she returned from eight weeks' sick leave to find that her position of European marketing manager no longer existed and that she had been moved to another role, which she viewed as a demotion.
Marguerite Bolger, counsel for Ms Crockett, told the tribunal that overnight she had gone from "hero to zero". She said Ms Crockett, who worked extremely hard to set up Dell's first internal advertising studio, saving the firm $3.5 million (€2.9 million), was a "highly successful and significantly praised employee".
Alex White, counsel for the defendant, told the tribunal that Dell in "no way" disputed the claims that Ms Crockett was a highly-valued employee or the large contributions she had made to the company. It is, however, contesting the claim of constructive dismissal and the suggestion she was left "high and dry".
The tribunal heard how in October 2003 personal circumstances forced Ms Crockett, who had worked at Dell's Bray office since June 2002, to move to Cork. She told how Dell had been happy to accommodate this move through its telecommuting policy.
It then heard how Ms Crockett became ill with a chest infection over Christmas, an illness that led to the discovery that she was suffering from anaemia. On the advice of her doctor she took eight weeks off, during which she claims to have received on average five work-related calls a day. On her return, her job and responsibilities had been changed.
She told the tribunal that Dell reorganises its marketing department annually, but that any major changes, such as those made to her role, would usually be discussed with the person concerned. Ms Crockett alleges that it was the responsibility of her manager, Neil Stevens, to alert her to the changes, but that she had only spoken to him twice while she was off.
She said when she eventually spoke to him he described her new position as "something" in DM (direct marketing.) Previously she had managed a team of 14 people and reported to a senior director. In the new proposed role she had no team and reported to someone below director level. "I was absolutely shell-shocked," she said.
Responding to the allegations, Mr White said someone of Ms Crockett's senior position was no longer needed to run the advertising studio but she herself was asked to be involved in the creation of her new role. "The suggestion that she was somehow cast aside could not be further from the truth," he said. "This was not a case of somebody being simply left on the shelf." The case was adjourned to resume in October.
