An assistant manager with a Limerick pizza shop has been awarded €6,500 after a majority finding by an Employment Appeals Tribunal that she had been dismissed because she was pregnant.
The tribunal found that Maria McCarthy Nolan, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, was unfairly dismissed by Brian McGoey and Belloni Ltd, trading as Tiger Foods Partnership, Domino's Pizza, Mount Kennett Place, Limerick.
Ms Nolan and her husband worked for the pizza shop as assistant manager and manager. She told the tribunal that in November 2003, the area manager phoned her husband and said he wanted to see him, then called again and asked him to bring his wife. She claimed the area manager told her her work was perfect but "it was not working out". Her husband was also dismissed. About 10 days later they were each paid €200. Ms Nolan said the area manager had been told about her pregnancy only a few days before the dismissal.
The area manager said there had been difficulties with Ms Nolan's husband. He had been given two warnings. When he turned up to the meeting about his dismissal, Ms Nolan and their two children accompanied him. The meeting had become heated and she had stormed out and had not returned to work.