AN employee of a catering firm has been awarded £20,000 compensation by the Employment Appeals Tribunal under the Unfair Dismissals Act.
The tribunal ruled that the dismissal of Mr Alan McGuigan, of Kenley, Grange Heights, Douglas, Co Cork, on September 2nd, 1994, had been unfair. He had been a regional manager for the Munster region for Campbell Catering Ltd, Swords, Co Dublin.
The tribunal said it was satisfied that the company had established it was necessary to restructure the organisation. But it did not accept that this made it necessary to make Mr McGuigan, who had made a "significant commitment" to the company, redundant.
The tribunal also awarded £16,000 compensation under the Unfair Dismissals Act to Ms Maura Norton, of Upper Churchtown Road, Dublin. The award was made against the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Cedar House, Mount Anville Park, Dublin. Ms Norton had told the tribunal that she had always been referred to as "matron", but on January 27th, 1995 she was told that the proposed restructuring of Cedar House required a person with managerial skills.
The tribunal ruled that a redundancy situation did not exist at the time of the dismissal.