The unfair dismissal of Charlie McConalogue’s previous driver, a minister for agriculture, has been comprehensively addressed by a tribunal, which awarded him €30,000. This came about following the poorly handled release of Trevor Shaw on Christmas Day to give room for a garda to assume his duties in response to security concerns.
The government initiated the replacement of ministerial car drivers with garda members in 2022, a reversal of the previous measures dating back ten years that allowed civilians to fill these roles. The point of contention arose from perceived forcible redundancy, as Mr Shaw felt compelled to accept a termination package. The only alternative offered was a transfer to the Department of Social Protection as a clerical officer.
Ellen Walsh, a legal representative of Sean Ormonde Solicitors, spoke on behalf of Shaw, condemning the Department of Agriculture’s handling of the situation as a catastrophic failure to respect Shaw’s employment rights. She referred to this incident as a mock redundancy.
In its defense, the State denied the allegations, with barrister Declan Harmon BL informing the tribunal that the redundancy arose due to security advice. He argued that once the role was slated to be fulfilled by a garda, termination of the employment was unavoidable.
The new security protocols, as outlined in the Workplace Relations Commission, provided garda drivers only for ministers who are cabinet members. In contrast, civilian drivers like Mr Shaw were retained on the Department of Agriculture’s roster to serve Martin Heydon, a non-cabinet minister of state.
Expressing his dissatisfaction for the process, Shaw described their futile attempts to seek answers from their respective ministers. As he recalled, the guards began taking up their positions, and they were made to understand that their roles would be obsolete by summer. The uncertainty of their future was an immensely challenging period for him and his colleagues. Shaw confirmed he received official redundancy notice in November 2022.
Mr Shaw expressed his concerns about not being provided with any concrete information about the suggested shift to the Department of Social Protection. He underscored that a job involving administrative tasks was far from fitting for him, especially since he lacked computer skills, and the idea of being requested to perform computer-based tasks in an office environment filled him with fear.
The adjudicator, Breiffni O’Neill, emphasised that an employer asserting redundancy as grounds for termination must validate both the existence of a redundancy situation and the fairness of the process. According to O’Neill, the Department of Agriculture behaved exceedingly unjustly by outrightly dismissing Mr Shaw with no discussion on alternatives to redundancy.
He also pointed out that the proposed alternative of a temporary clerical officer job was suggested with no consideration of Mr Shaw’s skills. Additionally, he noticed no recourse was made available. O’Neill highlighted the particularly appalling aspect of the case: Mr Shaw’s termination date, which fell on Christmas Day, the 25th of December 2022.
O’Neill ordered a compensation of €30,000 for the unjust dismissal, stating that this compensation should be added to the worker’s legal redundancy rights and the already provided undisclosed goodwill payment.