A Dunnes Stores employee who was sacked after turning up for work while allegedly "drunk" has been awarded €54,000 in compensation by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Ms Gemma Twohig, who was check-out manageress at the group's outlet in Bridge Street, Tullamore, Co Offaly, was given the maximum possible award of two years' salary.
The tribunal found that her dismissal in October 2002 was "grossly disproportionate", and that Dunnes had "completely ignored" its own disciplinary procedures.
A human resources manager with the company had told the tribunal that there was a "strong smell of alcohol" from Ms Twohig when she arrived for work on the morning of Friday, October 10th.
She was sent home and, at a meeting the following day, informed that she was being given a month's notice.
Ms Twohig, who had worked for Dunnes for just over 10 years, said she had never presented herself for work "drunk".
She said she had had three or four light beers the night before the Friday in question.
The tribunal said Ms Twohig's demeanour on that morning was such that her employer was entitled to send her home.
However, there had also been a clear breach of the "first rule of natural justice", which was "Audi Alterem Partem - the other side must be heard".
Given the "gross failure" of the company "in terms of proportionality, substance and procedure", it was "just and equitable" to award the maximum amount allowed under the Unfair Dismissals Acts.
In a separate case, the tribunal awarded €7,500 to a man who was unfairly dismissed by Dunnes Stores from its outlet at Oakville, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, in June last year.
Mr Edward Byrne, of Elm Park, Clonmel, was sacked after a deli manager reported seeing him enter the toilets on the premises with cans under his arm. He denied the allegation.
The tribunal said it accepted the deli manager's evidence, but the procedures adopted by the company were "manifestly unfair" and at odds with its own disciplinary procedures.
In particular, Dunnes had failed to make any inquiry into the source of the cans before dismissing Mr Byrne.
