High court rejects attempt to stop tribunal hearing dismissal case

The High Court has rejected an attempt to stop the Employment Appeals Tribunal from hearing a claim next week for alleged constructive dismissal taken by a former investment director with the ICC Bank. The hearing is due to open before the tribunal on Tuesday.

Ms Prisca Grady, of Harcourt Street, Dublin, has taken the claim against Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Ltd, which now owns ICC. The bank applied to Mr Justice O' Caoimh for leave to seek an order restraining the tribunal hearing.

In her proceedings, Ms Grady claims she was forced out of her job in July 2000 by oppressive, threatening and aggressive treatment. She admitted to the tribunal that she did not seek medical advice between the dates of her leaving and the taking of her case against her employers.

Ms Grady in July told an employment appeals tribunal that, after resigning from her £100,000 (€127,000) plus per year job, she became suicidal and for some months spent most of her time in bed.

She alleged that Mr Tom Kirwan, deputy managing director of ICC Venture Capital, had sometimes behaved inappropriately when the two met alone in Mr Kirwan's office to discuss business.

The July tribunal was told that, at some meetings, Mr Kirwan had looked her up and down in a suggestive manner and had "gyrated" his hips. Mr Kirwan sat in his seat, pulled it in close to his desk, put his hands below the desk and gyrated his hips, it was alleged. The July hearing was also told at some of these meetings Mr Kirwan's "lips would redden" and his "eyes would glaze over".

The bank, which strongly denies Ms Grady's allegations, admits that she was employed by it from August 1988 until she resigned on July 31st, 2000, having given one month's notice of her intention to resign.

During the July tribunal hearing, she won an application to take a case of constructive dismissal against her former employer.

Following her resignation, she had a six-month window to lodge a claim but eventually lodged it one day too late. The tribunal in July said exceptional circumstances existed and allowed the claim to proceed.

She told the tribunal that she was so upset after resigning from her job she could not function properly and this prevented her from submitting her case within the required six-month period. The tribunal ruled that her condition in the months following her resignation could be seen as an exceptional circumstance which prevented her lodging her complaint within the statutory period.

In the High Court, the bank had sought to prohibit the hearing proceeding on a number of grounds, including that the Unfair Dismissals Act provides that an applicant seeking redress under it must submit her application within six months of the date of dismissal.