Zutec chief executive sues to prevent loss of her job

The chief executive of a Dublin software company is suing her employer in an attempt to prevent her removal from her job.

Sinead Branagh has sued Zutec Inc Ireland Ltd, Dún Laoghaire, over purportedly appointing another person as chief executive without prior notice to her.

Mark Connaughton SC, for Ms Branagh, Glendalough, Co Wicklow, said his client has been chief executive since May 2015. Ms Branagh is a 5 per cent shareholder of the firm where she has worked since its inception in 1999. She has worked on projects at home and abroad.

Through no fault of his client, she was put in a prison in the United Arab Emirates for five days in June 2015, counsel said, because, it was claimed, the company failed to satisfactorily terminate its business relationship with its UAE-based partner and local partner, he said.

She has since been on sick leave, working from home, counsel said. Last month she was told someone else had been made CEO, he said.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan, at the High Court, granted lawyers permission to serve short notice of her proceedings on the company and returned the matter to later this week.