Former PA tells of 'shame at summary dismissal'

A former personal assistant to businessman Lochlann Quinn said yesterday she was devastated, humiliated and shamed by her "sudden and unexpected redundancy". Jane O'Byrne, Dundrum, Dublin, has taken a case of unfair dismissal against Mr Quinn, deputy chairman of Glen Dimplex and former AIB chairman.

Mr Quinn has denied the claim. He said he had made her redundant because circumstances had changed and he needed a chartered accountant instead of a PA.

He said he gave her a very generous redundancy package, offered to help her find another job and told her she could draft her own reference and he would sign it.

The case was heard at the Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday and a ruling is expected in the next two months.

Mr Quinn told the tribunal he hired Ms O'Byrne as a part-time PA in July 2001 because his personal business was expanding and he didn't want to ask Glen Dimplex staff to do this work.

Ms O'Byrne received an €18,000 salary for working about three hours a day, five days a week. "I had absolutely no problem with Jane's performance and she worked very well for that period," he said. Mr Quinn's personal business interests continued to expand so he decided that he needed a chartered accountant instead of a PA.

Before lunchtime on March 29th, 2005, Mr Quinn called Ms O'Byrne into his office and said he would have to make her redundant for the reasons outlined.

He gave her a cheque amounting to nine months' pay. Mr Quinn said she had worked for him for less than four years but he paid her substantially more than legally required because he wanted to be "generous". When she asked when she should leave, he said "today".

A new chartered accountant had been hired and would be starting work the following day.

Ms O'Byrne said she would never forget the "shame and humiliation" she felt. "I was in such a state. I couldn't clear my desk. I couldn't shut down my PC."

She later wrote to him saying she had been hurt and humiliated by her sudden and unexpected departure. She told Mr Quinn he didn't realise "the enormity of what you have done to me personally and professionally".

The manner of her "summary dismissal" had planted a seed of doubt in people's minds. "People will always think, 'she must have done something'," she wrote.

Ms O'Byrne said if she had received suitable notice of her dismissal, she would have been upset but accepted it. She told Mr Quinn she had a lot to be grateful for from a monetary point of view but money was "a poor substitute for your lack of humanity".

The tribunal heard that Ms O'Byrne had encountered domestic difficulties in 2003 and had asked Mr Quinn if he could give her more work and more pay. He didn't have any more work to offer but gave her an extra €1,000 a month paid by cheque. He told the tribunal this was a gift, paid out of his income "out of the goodness of my heart". Nothing was sought in return.

However, Ms O'Byrne said she saw the money as a salary increase, not a gift.

Yesterday Mr Quinn agreed that the manner of the dismissal could have been handled better but said he had apologised for this. He said he had handled the dismissal in that way because he thought Ms O'Byrne might get upset in the office if she didn't leave on that day.

In certain industries in Dublin, when someone's employment was terminated, the person left the same day, he said.