A seasoned worker at Dublin’s Hairy Lemon tavern was awarded €30,000 for being fired unfairly based on their age, reports RTE.
John Mooney (71), who had been rehired in 2014 following an earlier redundancy at the conclusion of a 20-year stint as a barman at the pub on Stephen Street in Dublin 2, had been a maintenance man.
Following a complaint under the Employment Equality Act of 1998, he was granted the award in a ruling released today, reports RTE.
In November 2023, Mr. Mooney’s boss told him that he would be fired at Christmas “because [the pub’s] insurance had increased as a result of his age,” he said at a hearing before the Workplace Relations Commission in March 2024.
According to Mr. Mooney’s evidence, he tried to contact Peter Hanahoe, the pub’s owner, but the proprietor informed him that he needed to speak with Niall Duff instead, reports RTE.
Then, according to Mr. Mooney’s testimony, on a day in January 2024, Mr. Hanahoe approached the complainant, who was working upstairs in the bar, handed him an envelope, and stated, “Sorry about that John,” before leaving.
He informed the WRC that a letter of dismissal was inside the packet. He claimed that the bar manager asked him for his keys when he walked downstairs, so he fled, reports RTE.
The sole witness to testify on behalf of the corporation, Mr. Duff, stated that the directors of the company were “worried” about “some of the physical aspects of [Mr. Mooney’s] role” and believed “that an accident was waiting to happen.”
According to the employer, the maintenance worker role was no longer needed.
Despite the employer’s claim that the employment was redundant, adjudicator Breiffni O’Neill concluded that he favoured the complainant’s evidence since it admitted that it had not paid Mr. Mooney for his redundancy, reports RTE.
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