Bank manager loses suspension challenge

A bank manager accused by her employer of applying a higher than normal interest rate to a €100,000 savings account held by her parents has failed in a legal challenge to her suspension.

Ulster Bank claimed that, at one point, it was believed that up to 10 times the correct rate was obtained by Clodagh Kinsella’s parents.

Ms Kinsella, of Collegewood Park, Clane, Co Kildare, was suspended on full pay in May 2015 to allow an investigation be carried out, the High Court heard.

She was told the process would be done as quickly as possible and she would be kept updated but says she never was. The suspension occurred months after she suffered a back and whiplash injury and was on a phased return to work at the time.

In May 2016, she was told she would face disciplinary action alleging that, between 2008 and 2014, she directly or indirectly instructed the bank’s capital market unit to apply a substantially higher rate to her parents’ account.

In seeking an injunction stopping her suspension and the disciplinary process, she claimed the probe was taking too long, that she was denied fair procedures and was suffering stress because of her treatment which her doctor said impeded her recovery.

The bank disputed her claims.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan said Ms Kinsella had not met the necessary threshold for the strong case principle that the investigation process was sufficiently flawed in a way that was not capable of being remedied.