Nursing home owners must pay former staff €38k

THE owners of a Co Kilkenny nursing home which was closed down by the health authorities have been ordered to pay almost €38,000 compensation to two former staff members.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal ruled that care assistants Mary and Erica Dunne were constructively dismissed because of bullying and harassment by the owner of the nursing home, Miriam Holmes.

Holmes and her daughter, Hayley, who were the directors of the Avondale Nursing Home in Callan, Co Kilkenny, fled the jurisdiction shortly after the nursing home was closed by the Health Information and Quality Authority on July 21 last.