Man fired shortly before arrest of boss at Ballyseedy Garden Center wins almost €78,000 for unfair dismissal

An IT manager who was sacked shortly before the arrest of his former boss in connection with Ireland’s largest ever seizure of crystal meth, which made national headlines, has won almost €78,000 for unfair dismissal and breach of employment rights.

The award to the employee, David McCullagh, includes a full year’s salary in compensation for unfair dismissal after he was out of work for ten months – as the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) concluded his job search “may have been curtailed” by the way the employee, David McCullagh, company associated with the Ballyeedy Garden Center went bankrupt.

His former employer, Ballyseedy Restaurant Ltd, one of a number of affiliated companies to exit the garden centre, ceased trading on February 26 this year following the arrest of its chief executive, Nathan McDonnell (44), of Ballyroe, Tralee. , Co Kerry, following the seizure of millions of euros worth of drugs at Cork Port.

Mr McDonnell pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court in September to importing drugs and facilitating an organized crime gang, and will be sentenced in December.

Mr McCullagh’s employment with the company ended on January 13 this year after he filed a formal complaint complaining that it had imposed cuts to his pay and hours last autumn – which he said was done without his consent because there was no job. applicable employment contract that provides for dismissal or reduction of working hours.

He told WRC he was originally hired part-time in 2021 to work on implementing automated ordering systems across the company’s five restaurants, including the garden center cafe, reporting directly to the CEO. He later took on responsibility for IT support and purchasing for the entire company, earning €50,000 per year for a three-day week.

His evidence was that the company’s chief financial officer, Mrs B, told him in August last year that the company needed to “reduce its overall wage bill”.

He said he saw “no reason” for that because he had seen daily sales figures and inventory reports and could see that sales were increasing and employee costs were decreasing.

He believed that the family that owned the company “just felt like they wanted to get out of the hospitality industry” and referred to a third director, a co-founder of the company, who stated that she had issues with the minimum wage and provision of pensions and sick leave.

When he objected to reduced hours, Ms B told him the decision was “made by the family as business owners and it was not a proposal for me to consider,” he said.

Mr McCullagh said he had been unable to find anything other than short-term academic work since resigning early this year, but was on a panel for a government executive role and hoped ‘something would come along’ . up” next month.

He said he was on the books of a number of recruiters, but described being “inadvertently” turned down for a job he thought was a perfect fit for him as the owner of a local catering business.

WRC judge Aideen Collard said she had “no doubt” that all of Mr McCullagh’s work for Ballyseedy Restaurant Ltd was “as faithful as a rock”.

She upheld Mr McCullagh’s statutory complaints and noted that no defense had been offered by the company, which did not attend the hearing.

She called Mr McCullagh “an impressive witness” and wrote that he “provided a credible account of the circumstances leading to his dismissal”, supported by correspondence.

She found that Mr McCullagh had been actively looking for work during the ten months he was unemployed and awarded him an annual salary, €50,000, in compensation for unfair dismissal.

She also awarded €24,000 in compensation for failure to pay accrued annual leave entitlements and failure to pay wages and severance pay, along with €3,848 for the absence of a written employment contract. In total, Mr McCullagh received €77,848.