A manager who was made redundant after looking for a pay increase has been awarded €27,000.
Flooring company manager, Michael O'Brien, told the Employment Appeals Tribunal that he had also been verbally abused by his managing director.
The tribunal heard that the managing director of Furlong Flooring Ltd, the country’s largest supplier of floorcoverings, had no recollection of making such comments to Mr O’Brien.
The company, based at Ballymount Cross Industrial Estate, Dublin 24, is among the largest floor covering distributors in the UK and Ireland, with an annual turnover in excess of €100 million.
The hearing in Dublin was told that Mr O’Brien had spent 19 years working for Furlong Flooring and his last role was as contracts manager. On the day before he was made redundant, he had been training a new member of staff.
In a report on its findings just published the tribunal outlined evidence from the unnamed managing director of introducing a contracts division in the company in September 2011 and allocating Mr O’Brien to this new area. He told him to “try it for a year”.
It was envisaged that Mr O’Brien’s basic salary would be reduced, with a sales commission to be added. But at a meeting in October, Mr O’Brien told the company that he was not happy with the salary on offer and he wanted an increase in wages from €60,000 per annum to €66,000.
As the company was losing money at the time, the MD said the company was not in a position financially to concede his request. He had no option but to make Mr O’Brien redundant and paid him his statutory redundancy entitlement.
Mr O’Brien told the tribunal that while flying home from a trade fair, the MD had made abusive comments to him. At a later meeting to discuss his salary, there was no mention of redundancy and he raised the abusive comments with the MD. His boss said that he had no recollection of making such comments.
Two days later, the MD told him he was making him redundant. He refused to let him talk to a director and insisted that that the decision had been made.
The tribunal determined that Mr O’Brien was unfairly dismissed.
Awarding him compensation of €27,000 for his dismissal, it said: “The employer failed to set out a clear matrix in regard to the selection of the claimant for redundancy and failed to comply with any reasonable procedure in informing the claimant of his dismissal. The employer also denied the claimant the opportunity of appealing the decision.”