A security guard who was fired after sending a pornographic video to a colleague has seen his compensation for wrongful dismissal doubled to €10,200 on appeal, reports The Mirror.
The supermarket security officer, who was in his 50s, had worked for his employer for 12 years and earned an annual salary of €39,572.
He had a clean criminal record when he accidentally sent a video via WhatsApp to a colleague named Ms. A on June 19, 2020, when he was off duty.
He deleted the video when they realized it had gone to an unintended recipient.
However, Ms A lodged a formal complaint that she was sent a pornographic video by the security officer.
The Employment Relations Commission established that the employee had been unfairly terminated and should have been awarded compensation of 4,566 euros.
Both the security officer and the supermarket appealed the decision.
In her ruling, Katie Connolly, deputy chair of the Labor Court, admitted the video had been sent by mistake, reports The Mirror.
She awarded damages of €34,000 to the security officer based on his salary.
But the court reduced the size of the award by 50% as the man had been absent from work for a period of 12 months after returning to his home country by September 2021.
He was on welfare until June 2022 when he found a part-time job, reports The Mirror.
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