We were on a break: €108k awarded over job dismissals

Two former employees of a printing company have been awarded €108,000 between them by an Employment Appeals Tribunal for unfair dismissal after leaving the work premises for a break without clocking out or seeking permission.

The tribunal heard the two men were dismissed from their jobs with AGI Media Packaging in Dublin for “gross misconduct” in January 2013.

On December 22, 2012, they had been working on a print packaging job for one of the company’s largest customers. The production manager was not due to be in that day but went to the premises at 11.20am on another matter. When he got there, the production floor was quiet. He thought the staff were on a break as they had started their shift at 6am. However, as time passed, only one worker returned to the factory floor from the canteen. He established that the others had left at 11.20am.