€5,400 for dismissal in horseplay incident

A tribunal has awarded €5,400 to a worker who was unfairly dismissed after being involved in a horseplay incident in which he made a reflex reaction to being struck in the groin area with a towel.

His reaction was not made public but in a rare move, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) ordered that Michael Last be reinstated in his job with Suir Pharma Ireland Ltd.

In its ruling, the EAT stated that Mr Last “was blatantly treated in an unfair fashion” when he was dismissed in October 2014.