A truck driver who abruptly resigned when he felt he was being displaced by a lower-paid non-national should be paid over €18,500 and reinstated in his job an Employment Appeals Tribunal said yesterday.
The tribunal found Martin Maher, Cherrywood Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin, was unfairly dismissed by Greyhound Waste Disposal of Greenlea Park, Terenure.
Mr Maher told the tribunal he had worked for the firm since 1987 and had signed a contract to be paid on a point system - which meant the more wheelie bins he emptied the more he was paid.
When he returned to work after sick leave in October 2004 he was told by the group operations manager he would no longer be driving his route and the points system had changed.
He was shocked and felt "his back was to the wall". He told the manager he "was out of there" and was not asked if he wanted to change his mind.
He requested a letter of resignation be typed. He had signed it and left within 30 minutes. Some weeks before he left he had trained a non-national person on his route and he felt this was the person who was taking over from him at a cheaper rate of pay.
Mr Maher was paid a gross weekly wage of almost €1,035. If the points system was removed and his route was changed his wages would have dropped by about €250 a week. He disputed that he had been asked to change his route for only four weeks as part of a "cross training" exercise.
The group operations manager told the tribunal the firm had 28 drivers and about 10 were Irish. He said Mr Maher had been told the route switch was short-term to test a new driver. He was shocked Mr Maher had left and had told him the door was always open if he wanted to return.
He stressed to the tribunal that he had asked Mr Maher on four occasions to reconsider. In hindsight, maybe the letter of resignation should not have been drafted so quickly.
The firm's financial director confirmed to the tribunal the non-national whom Mr Maher had trained took over his route permanently after his departure.
He was not paid on the points system but was on a basic wage.
The tribunal said inadequate efforts were made to find out if Mr Maher understood the importance of what he was doing when he resigned.
This could have been done either by way of an appeal or by asking Mr Maher to reconsider a little later.
The tribunal said the firm's "inaction served to unreasonably copper fasten" Mr Maher's resignation to such an extent as to amount to unfair dismissal.
The appropriate remedy was full reinstatement and compensation for earnings loss.