Solicitor secures redundancy order against insolvent south Dublin law firm

A solicitor at a south Dublin law firm which had its accounts frozen by the High Court earlier this year has secured an order for statutory redundancy worth up to €6,400 against the practice.

Amanda Malone told the Workplace Relations Commission in April this year that her workplace had shut down on February 22nd this year, when she was out on sick leave.

Ms Malone said she got neither a statutory redundancy lump sum nor any confirmation that her job would be coming back when Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, was ordered to cease trading in February.

She had been working a 32-hour week at the law office, earning €1,354.25, having started there in April 2018, the tribunal was told.

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A son of one of the firm’s partners had informed her that the Law Society had “taken over the files and would oversee the closure of the firm”, Ms Malone told the employment tribunal.

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She said her termination date ought to be taken as February 22nd, 2023, the date of an order by the High Court to the firm to cease trading.

Adjudicator Eileen Campbell recorded no appearance by the law firm at a hearing in March this year, but noted a written submission filed with the WRC the previous day by its representative.

The submission stated that the High Court had ordered Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors to cease trading on February 22nd, 2023.

“All accounts were frozen with any money transferring to the Law Society. The practice is insolvent,” the representative wrote.

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In a decision under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, published on Thursday morning, Ms Campbell said she was satisfied that Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors had “ceased to carry on business” and that there was a situation of redundancy.

She found Ms Malone was entitled to a lump sum based on her service of four years, 10 months and three weeks between April 4th, 2018, and February 22nd, 2023.

According to the statutory calculation, the lump sum would be worth up to €6,400.

Ms Campbell added that the exact calculation of Ms Malone’s redundancy payment would be a matter for the Department of Social Protection.