Courtney Carey, the employee sacked by Israeli software company Wix due to comments she made regarding the Palestinian issue on social media, has been compensated €35,000 for her unjust termination, reports RTE.
The money was given to Ms. Carey, a customer service team leader who was fired by Wix Online Platforms Ltd. in October, as a result of a complaint she filed with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under the Unfair Dismissals Act of 1977.
During a hearing last month, Ms. Carey told the tribunal, “It felt like I was blacklisted from the tech sector,” reports RTE.
Rosemary Mallon BL represented Wix during the hearing, stating that the firm acknowledged the dismissal was procedurally unjust and that the hearing was solely intended to address compensation. Rosemary Mallon BL was accompanied by Jessica Bielenberg of Mason Hayes & Curran.
Due to the company’s concession, a significant portion of last month’s hearing was devoted to Ms. Carey’s attempts to find new employment following her termination in order to satisfy the Labour Court’s 1999 ruling that an unemployed claimant “should employ a reasonable amount of time each weekday in seeking work,” reports RTE.
The adjudicating officer, Marie Flynn, deemed Ms. Carey’s complaint to be “well-founded” in her ruling.
She did, however, write that the complainant had only provided “sparse” documentation evidence of her job search efforts. Furthermore, she stated that “considering that [Ms. Carey] was unemployed for half a year after her termination,” the quantity of official job applications submitted to the tribunal during the hearing was “inadequate,” reports RTE.
Act, Ms. Flynn stated that Ms. Carey had lost €20,000 in income over the 26-week time that she had been unemployed from October 23, 2023, despite receiving four weeks’ notice.
The adjudicator additionally said that Ms. Carey would incur additional losses of €18,453.30 if she continued to work at her present employment until the second anniversary of her dismissal, as her pay was now grossly lower than what she had made at Wix, at €236.58 per week.
She ordered Wix to reimburse Ms. Carey with €35,000. The business has until August 15th to file an appeal with the Labour Court.
“Having regard to all the circumstances of this case, I consider it just and equitable to award compensation to the complainant for her loss arising from her unfair dismissal,” Ms Flynn wrote, reports RTE.
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