Foreign workers more likely to take unfair dismissal action

Foreign workers are more likely to take a claim for unfair dismissal against their employer than their Irish counterparts, according to new research on the rulings of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT).

However, they are marginally less likely to be successful in winning their case. The study shows 48% of Irish claimants were judged by the EAT to have been unfairly fired compared with 41% of migrant workers.

It reveals foreign nationals are also less likely to engage a barrister to represent them and they are rarely reinstated to the former job even when the EAT rules they have been unfairly dismissed.