€15k for care assistant over dismissal

A former care assistant at a Limerick facility for the elderly has been awarded €15,000 for unfair dismis sal after an Employment Appeals Tribunal found there was insufficient evidence that she had struck two residents there.

Denise Tchakounte was employed at the Park Nursing Home in Castletroy from 2009. According to Mowlam Healthcare Ltd which operates the facility, a colleague complained to a manager (JS) on December 28, 2012, that she had witnessed the care assistant striking the two residents.

According to the tribunal’s report on the hearing, the home told it “JS called the claimant to the office and placed her on paid suspension pending investigation”.