The Law Society has been accused by the Mandate trade union of manipulating the law to deny staff the protection of the Unfair Dismissals Act and of engaging in bullying tactics. The allegations were made by a national officer of the union, Mr Maurice Sheehan, at a Labour Court hearing on a strike at the society's headquarters. The dispute is over the dismissal of a temporary secretary and other issues.
However, the society says it has followed dismissal procedures and offered a generous exgratia payment to the dismissed individual. It also says that Mandate refused to make a joint reference of the dispute to the Labour Court. The court asked Mandate yesterday to suspend its strike action while it considered the case, but the union refused.