A WORKER who wore a ring in her eyebrow was unjustifiably dismissed from her employment, the Labour Court found, after hearing an argument that the woman's attitude had changed when management indicated the practice was unacceptable.
The woman, a trainee dispatch clerk with JMH Manufacturing Ltd, off Ormond Quay, Dublin, was dismissed last year after five months employment. The court recommended that two weeks compensation be paid to her and that she receive a reference.
She claimed she was unfairly dismissed several days after appearing at work with the ring when a member of management lost her temper with her. In the intervening period she suffered continual criticism for wearing the ring.
Before having her eyebrow pierced she had discussed the matter and had understood there was no objection to her wearing the ring.
The company claimed the worker's behaviour was unacceptable after she failed to obey an instruction and she became verbally abusive.
In a separate recommendation, the court said workers at a Tallaght factory should get £350 compensation for switching from a wages system to a credit transfer system which was introduced following an armed robbery in 1988.
The SIPTU employees had sought a £500 payment, £200 above the management's offer.
"It is essential for safety reasons that the company changes to a non cash payment system," Metal Powders International Ltd, represented by the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, said.
The 633 former employees of the Semperit tyre factory in Ballyfermot are to receive five weeks pay per year of service plus statutory entitlement, a week more than the company had conceded in its £17 million package, but two weeks less than what the unions sought, according to another Labour Court recommendation.
The court also recommended that rostered overtime payments for five storemen working in Penneys, O'Connell Street, Dublin, should not be paid after a bomb scare caused early closure of the store on July 18th last year.
The company agreed to honour its basic pay commitments up to 5.30 p.m. after the store closed at noon, causing "substantial losses".
"Concession of this claim could lead to knock on claims from 44 other members of the staff who were rostered to work until 8 p.m.," Penneys, represented by IBEC said.
SIPTU argued that the storemen's rostered overtime hours were "an integral part of their weekly earnings."