Microsoft Ireland has lost a bid to defer the payment of €200,000 damages to a former senior manager who was constructively dismissed by the company. The company had sought a stay on payment pending the outcome of its appeal against the findings of the High Court in favour of Breda Pickering.

Ms Pickering (43), of Knockbracken House, Bishops Lane, Kilternan, Co Dublin, worked with Microsoft for 13 years and became head of its localisation division in Europe. She realised more than €13 million in stock options with the company, the court previously heard.

In her action, she had sought damages from Microsoft Ireland for alleged negligence, breach of contract and failure to grant her redundancy entitlements and stock options.

Last January, the High Court awarded Ms Pickering more than €348,000 in damages against Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd after it found the company had constructively dismissed her. The court ruled that €200,000 of that sum was to be paid out immediately to Ms Pickering and it placed a stay on payment of the remainder in the event of an appeal.

At the Supreme Court yesterday, Tom Mallon, for Microsoft Ireland, applied for a stay on any payment of damages to Ms Pickering pending the hearing of the company's appeal against the High Court decision. Liability was a genuine issue in the case and there was no real reason why Ms Pickering needed to benefit in the short term, he said.

Mr Mallon also said there was "no issue of hardship" in relation to Ms Pickering or Microsoft. There was no issue that she was a woman of substantial means, he added. The sum awarded to her was also tax-deductible and if the appeal was successful, money would have to be refunded by the Revenue.

Richard Nesbitt SC, for Ms Pickering, said justice did not require that anything be done for the company. The High Court had ordered the payout of €200,000 to Ms Pickering and it was up to the plaintiff herself to look after her tax matters in the event that she lost in the appeal.

Refusing the stay, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, presiding over the three-judge Supreme Court, said Ms Pickering was "entitled to her damages as quickly as possible". This was a fact-based case in which Ms Pickering had succeeded and, unusually for an employment case, the sum would be returned by the plaintiff in the event of an appeal going against her. "She's a lady of considerable substance," the judge said.