A takeaway worker who said she was sacked by text after asking for a €1-an-hour raise when its new owner gave her more work to do has won nearly €900 in a claim for unfair dismissal.
Her ex-boss maintained there had been no dismissal - claiming the worker left "happy" and that she had paid what she termed a "golden handshake" - a payment of €300.
However, the Workplace Relations Commission found the worker, Caitlin Kavanagh, had been dismissed by Goodwill Catering Ltd, trading as the Peony Garden in Prosperous, Co Kildare, and had suffered a "fundamental breach of [her] rights".
In a decision published today, the employment tribunal heard that Ms Kavanagh, a full-time student, had been working part-time at the restaurant, mainly at the weekend, for about three years when it changed hands in June 2023.
Ms Kavanagh said a woman introduced herself as the new owner on Monday 26 June and said she wanted the worker to perform a number of "additional tasks".
The worker said she had some safety concerns, as she believed the extra work would require training, and because it included working at height and the use of chemicals.
She texted her new boss the following day asking for a €1-an-hour raise for the extra work, and referring to her concerns, she said.
Ms Kavanagh said her message was "not received very well" by the employer and that she was told to find a new job by replying text.
A company witness, whose full name was not given in the tribunal decision, stated in evidence that there had been "no dismissal, just a mutual agreement between the parties that the complainant would leave her job".
"The witness stated that she had given the complainant €300 as a 'golden handshake'," WRC adjudicator Roger McGrath recorded.
The witness stated further that she needed staff and that Ms Kavanagh was "happy when she left the job", he noted.
In his decision, Mr McGrath said the content of texts from the employer to Ms Kavanagh on 27 June 2023 were "clear".
"I don't need you working for me," read one. Another included the phrase: "You may be better to find a new job," while a third stated: "You are not my employee."
Mr McGrath said that within 25 minutes of dismissing Ms Kavanagh, the employer wrote again telling her there had been a "misunderstanding" and referring to an offer of a new contract.
"If you sign new contracts you are my employee, if you [do] not sign, you are not my employee," read one subsequent message from the restaurateur.
"It is clear the complainant was dismissed and told she must sign a new contract if she wanted her job back. This equates to a fundamental breach of [her] rights to maintain her employment with the owner of an entity she worked in for some three years when taken over by a new owner," Mr McGrath wrote.
He called the employer's move to dismiss Ms Kavanagh "totally unreasonable" and, noting the absence of "any procedures whatsoever" prior to dismissal, upheld her complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.
Mr McGrath noted that Ms Kavanagh had mitigated her losses was "quick to find alternative employment" but the fact that her new job was further from home made it "less rewarding".
He ordered the business to pay Ms Kavanagh eight weeks’ wages in compensation, €896.
