Bookmaker forced to pay €60k to sacked love triangle manager

LEADING bookmaker Boylesports has been forced to pay out €60,000 to a former middle manager who was involved in a complicated love triangle among its staff members.

Former district support manager with Boylesports, Kara Coyle, took a case for unfair dismissal against the bookmaker after she was selected for redundancy by a superior who was in a relationship with her former partner.

Boylesports claimed they were forced to reduce the number of people working as area mangers as a result of a sharp downturn in business in 2009.

Ms Coyle, of Windfield Garden, Clybaun Road, Galway, who had worked with Boylesports since November 2002, was made redundant following an assessment by the company’s head of retail operations, Heather Glenn, and two other managers.

In evidence, Ms Glenn admitted she had begun a relationship with Ms Coyle’s ex-partner, who also worked with the firm as a regional manager.

She insisted the relationship had made no difference to her assessment of Ms Coyle, which she had conducted in an objective manner and the claimant had raised no objection about her role.

However, the two women disagreed about the date on which Ms Glenn began a relationship with Ms Coyle’s ex-partner.

Ms Coyle insisted she discovered her partner of four years was involved in a relationship with Ms Glenn at the company’s Christmas party in 2007.

She claimed she feared for her position because her boss was now involved in a relationship with her partner.

Ms Coyle said she was shocked to be informed in May 2009 that her job was no longer in existence and that nine employees would have to apply for four positions.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that the procedures used to select Ms Coyle for redundancy were tainted by a lack of fairness.

The EAT stressed that it could not be said, given the evidence concerning personal relationships involved in the case, that Ms Coyle’s assessment was conducted “free from bias”.

The tribunal said the independence and objectivity of the process was flawed as the assessors were conflicted because of their personal relationships. “The tribunal is of the view that the criteria applied were based exclusively on subjective grounds,” the EAT ruled.

It concluded that Ms Coyle was unfairly selected for redundancy.

Ms Coyle, who is now a student at NUI Galway, was awarded €60,000 in compensation.