A financial services employee who lost his job after receiving a prison sentence of more than two years for deception and impersonating a garda has brought a claim for unfair dismissal, reports Breaking News.
Orville Farrell was employed as a custody client servicing associate with State Street when he was convicted at Waterford Circuit Court and began serving a prison sentence in January 2024, reports Breaking News.
The firm had not been told that he was facing criminal proceedings and was initially unaware of why he had stopped attending work.
Around 15 January, an employee relations consultant at State Street received a phone call stating that Mr Farrell had been admitted to a psychiatric institution and was expected to remain an inpatient for some time, reports Breaking News.
The caller declined to give her name or identify the psychiatric facility, citing confidentiality, but did provide an email address through which further information would be shared.
Several days later, an email from that address confirmed that Mr Farrell had in fact been given a custodial sentence and was being held in prison, reports Breaking News.
Ciara Lawlor, State Street’s head of employee relations, told a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudication hearing on Monday that Mr Farrell’s unexpected absence had caused difficulties in managing workloads.
She said the company became aware of his imprisonment through media reports and made repeated efforts to contact him, extending deadlines multiple times for submissions about the future of his employment, reports Breaking News.
Barrister Maurice Osborne, appearing for State Street, said the company’s position was that there had been no dismissal, but rather that Mr Farrell’s contract had been terminated due to frustration.
He explained that frustration arises when an unforeseen event, outside the control of either party, makes it impossible or fundamentally different to perform a contract as originally intended, reports Breaking News.
Mr Farrell, however, argued that State Street had failed to consider keeping his role open until his release, or putting temporary arrangements in place to allow him to return later.
He told the WRC that employers are required to examine reasonable alternatives before deciding a contract has been frustrated, and on that basis he claimed he had been unfairly dismissed, reports Breaking News.
Mr Osborne said there was no realistic chance of Mr Farrell resuming work within a reasonable timeframe, despite a “contact person” wrongly suggesting he would be released after 10 months.
He said Mr Farrell should have informed his employer about the trial “as a matter of common courtesy”, adding that he initially told his line manager he was unwell, before the company was informed he was in a psychiatric facility, reports Breaking News.
Mr Osborne said State Street had gone “above and beyond” in its attempts to engage with Mr Farrell, giving him numerous opportunities to make submissions up until April 2024.
Mr Farrell countered that frustration of contract requires “impossibility, not inconvenience”, and said his employer had failed to explore whether his job could continue if he were transferred to an open prison, reports Breaking News.
The WRC also heard that Mr Farrell later applied for another position with State Street, but the company decided it was inappropriate to consider the application as it does not employ individuals with criminal convictions.
State Street Custodial Services Ireland Limited is the Irish arm of the US-based financial services firm, managing approximately €1.7 trillion in assets domiciled in Ireland, representing around one-third of the total funds sector, reports Breaking News.
Mr Farrell was sentenced to three years in prison in January 2024 for impersonating a garda, with nine months suspended, and received a concurrent two-year sentence for deception, reduced by six months with the final six months suspended.
The hearing has now concluded, and adjudication officer Seamus Clinton is expected to issue a decision on the unfair dismissal complaint in the coming weeks, reports Breaking News.
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