Woman claims unfair dismissal by ex-partner

A solicitor terminated the employment of the woman who is the mother of his four children because he had "taken up" with his 23-year-old secretary, it was claimed by her lawyer at an unfair dismissal hearing yesterday.

Yvonne Donnelly (44) is suing Thomas Mannion (53), the principal of Mannion Solicitors, for unfair dismissal. The couple have four children between the ages of 10 and 17.

Ms Donnelly's counsel, Conor Bowman, told the Employment Appeals Tribunal the reason why Mr Mannion, of College Park, Ballinteer, Dublin, had dismissed her in February 2006 is because she knew he was in a sexual relationship with the secretary.

He said that if the tribunal made a ruling in favour of Mr Mannion it would amount to "carte blanche" for others to dismiss their ex-partners in similar circumstances.

"The tribunals and courts have never allowed in jurisprudence in this country a person to rely on their own wrongdoing as a defence," Mr Bowman said.

Mr Mannion's solicitor, Peter Ward, described Mr Bowman's remarks as "deeply regrettable" and "utterly improper" and contrary to an agreement they had before the tribunal not to pursue the breakdown of their personal relationship in the same forum for the sake of their children.

Mr Ward told the tribunal it had been Ms Donnelly's decision to send a solicitor's letter in February 2005 stating that their personal relationship had broken down irretrievably. Working relationships are based on trust and confidence, which had been "entirely extinguished".

In such circumstances, it would be "ludicrous" to suggest a working relationship still existed between them, Mr Ward added.

Mr Ward also accused Ms Donnelly of "venting her personal grievances in a damaging way" against Mr Mannion, whose practice is at Oranmore House, Taney Road, Dundrum. However, his application to have personal remarks made by Ms Donnelly about the father of her children struck from the record was not accepted by the tribunal chairwoman, Kate O'Mahony, who said the tribunal had no jurisdiction to do such a thing.

In her evidence, Ms Donnelly (44) said she had worked on a part-time basis for Mr Mannion for 10 years between 1995 and 2005. She described herself as a "part-time secretary" and gofer who was at Mr Mannion's "beck and call" and was paid €371 a week. Her duties included sorting Mr Mannion's post, filing documents, meeting and greeting clients, getting legal documents signed, sorting out his diary, collecting loan cheques and cleaning the office with her sister.

Mr Mannion had encouraged her to join the local tennis club because she was a "people's person" and would bring in clients for his firm. She never felt under such pressure at social occasions because she was "always on the lookout for business".

Ms Donnelly acknowledged that a solicitor's letter was sent in February 2005 from her to Mr Mannion stating that their relationship had broken down irretrievably, and Mr Mannion moved out of the family home in August 2005.

She described as "horrific" finding out when she returned from a holiday with their children that Mr Mannion had a three-year relationship with a secretary who was "half his age".

She said she was told to stay away from Mr Mannion's office between August 2005 and the termination of her employment in February 2006.

Ms Donnelly was "absolutely shocked" when she brought her children home from school to find her P45 on the kitchen table on February 1st. "I could not understand why he did that with no notice and no discussion."

There was no redundancy paid to her or money in lieu of notice, she added. She acknowledged that Mr Mannion was now paying her €1,000 a month for the maintenance of their four children, but it "doesn't even cover the food bills".

Mr Bowman said Ms Donnelly was entitled to the equivalent of two years of weekly payments amounting to €20,000.

Ms O'Mahony said she was not sure if Ms Donnelly actually had a contract of employment. She adjourned the action for a ruling at a later date.