A £22,500 award for constructive dismissal to the private secretary of the managing director of a major drugs company has been overturned. Yesterday in the Dublin Circuit Court, Judge Peter Smithwick said that three incidents in which Mrs Frances Leeson's work had been criticised by her boss, Mr Stephen Dorman of Glaxo Wellcome Ltd, "came well within the boundaries of acceptable criticism".
The award by the Employment Appeals Tribunal was appealed by the company. The tribunal had accepted that Ms Leeson "was not entirely blameless in the matter", but stated that "primary responsibility" for resolving the problems rested with the employer.
Overturning the award, Judge Smithwick told Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for Glaxo Wellcome Ltd, that it was plain that Mrs Leeson felt unable to concede she was in any way to blame for a deterioration in the relationship between herself and Mr Dorman.
At one meeting he had been "livid with anger" when discussing her timekeeping. He had also expressed dissatisfaction with her overall performance.
He said that, after Mr Dorman had returned from a week's holiday, Mrs Leeson had felt unable to face him again and had supplied medical certificates indicating she was ill. These were followed by a letter in which she asked him to cease his oppressive attitude towards her and his victimisation of her.
"I have come to the conclusion that Mr Dorman did have legitimate complaints about Mrs Leeson's work and tried to talk to her about these with a view to improving her performance," Judge Smithwick said. The three short incidents complained of did not, in his view, constitute such conduct as would make it reasonable for Mrs Leeson to terminate her employment.
The judgment was greeted as a "landmark decision" by IBEC. Its director of employee relations, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, said that the court had upheld "the manager's right to manage a worker's performance".