Hotel told to pay fired restaurant manager €4,900

The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that the decision by a four-star hotel to sack its restaurant manager over removing a surveillance camera was “grossly unfair”.

The EAT told Ballykisteen Hotel Ltd to pay Thomas O’Halloran €4,900 — it would have been higher but for Mr O’Halloran securing new employment six weeks after his sacking.

The EAT said the evidence before it was “indicative of no wrongdoing whatsoever” on Mr O’Halloran’s part and he

“was denied a process that would meet even minimum standards and was treated unfairly”.

It stated the hotel “failed on almost every conceivable ground and showed a complete lack of respect for the Claimant as an employee”.

Mr O’Halloran had worked at the hotel for seven years before being sacked on March 9, 2013, for “gross misconduct”.

He told the EAT that, while on duty in the bar area of the hotel, he investigated handprints on a wall and found a surveillance camera had been installed. A colleague also saw the camera. He replaced it and discussed it with his deputy manager.

Several days later, Mr O’Halloran was asked to attend a meeting. It was alleged that Mr O’Halloran had purposefully sought to locate and interfere with surveillance cameras, which he resolutely denied.

The report states: “The general manager and interviewer left the meeting briefly and then came back offering the claimant the option of resigning or being fired. When he refused resignation, he was handed what was clearly a pre-prepared letter terminating his employment forthwith.”

The EAT found this was a clear case of unfair dismissal.

It awarded Mr O’Halloran €2,925 arising from the unfair dismissal claim and a further €1,950 under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act.