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A former lecturer of a computing school was recently awarded €45,000 for unfair dismissal by the Employment Appeals Tribunal (E.A.T.). The lecturer had been employed in the computing school since 1987 and was promoted to the position of lecturer in 1991. However after a period of suspension, following an altercation with a colleague, relations between the lecturer and employer rapidly deteriorated.

The lecturer failed to attend several meetings, including discussions on student placement after the “dot.com crash”. The only meeting which the lecturer attended was in relation to a grievance which he had lodged. At the meeting, he refused to answer questions and abruptly left, stating that a trade union representative should have been present. The lecturer then informed his employer of his decision to take leave, without citing the reasons for doing so. Numerous attempts were made to contact the lecturer.

Eventually the head of the computing school contacted the college president who was informed of the difficulties. The president then sent several letters to the lecturer instructing him to meet with the head of school, which the lecturer never complied with. The president eventually dismissed the employee.

At a previous Rights Commissioner hearing on the case, it was recommended that the lecturer be reinstated due to the employer's failure to comply with fair procedures. However, the E.A.T. refused to affirm this recommendation due to the employee's behaviour and failure to mitigate his loss of earnings by seeking another lecturing position. Instead, they awarded the former lecturer €45,000 for unfair dismissal.