A Co Waterford chartered accountant who had worked abroad for M.F. Kent and Co (International) Ltd, now in liquidation, was awarded £21,344 damages and costs yesterday in his High Court claim for wrongful dismissal.
The High Court President, Mr Justice Costello, held that no professional person would be likely to go abroad to perform a contract which could be determined by six months notice. The more reasonable period would be 12 months, taking into account he was a professional person, and the level of responsibility involved.
Mr Gerard Lyons, Cliff Road, Tramore, claimed the company, which carried out engineering and construction contracts, had employed him from September 1989 and that he was summarily dismissed in January 1994. He claimed he was told there was no work for him. The dismissal occurred only weeks before the Kent group of companies went into receivership.
In evidence, he told his counsel, Mr Roderick Horan, he had been financial controller on two £50 million projects, one in England and the other in Germany, before being transferred to the Netherlands and being involved in a major project in France. He was now employed in London with another company at a substantially lower salary.