IrishCentral.com ordered to pay €12,000 for unfair dismissal

A publisher has been ordered to pay €12,000 to an employee after her redundancy was found to be unfair. Sinead Behan worked at IrishCentral.com and was let go when the company stopped printing magazines aimed at the Irish community abroad due to a drop in readership. The decision was made by the Workplace Relations Commission after Ms. Behan filed a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act of 1977. The company, Irish Studio Media Publishing Limited, had ceased printing five magazine titles from 2019 until May 2023, leading to financial losses. Ms. Behan, who held the role of publishing director since December 2021, claimed her job was no longer necessary. The company's chairman stated that the decline in magazine sales resulted in significant advertising losses. Ms. Behan's employment history at the company dates back to 2003. During the tribunal, Ms. Behan explained that she reported directly to a co-chairman before a new CEO took over in January 2022. She later raised a grievance against the CEO, which was largely ignored according to her lawyer. The publisher's counsel challenged her about her unwillingness to report to the CEO. The tribunal noted that Ms. Behan received only part of her redundancy payment. An evaluation of the redundancy consultation found it inadequate, lacking proper dialogue and support for Ms. Behan during the process. The adjudicator, Máire Mulcahy, concluded that while redundancy was valid, the way it was handled led to an unfair dismissal. Ultimately, Ms. Mulcahy awarded her €12,000 for the unfair dismissal, while rejecting an additional claim for full statutory redundancy payments.