A CARETAKER who was fired for accidentally locking a student inside a college building has had his dismissal overturned by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Desmond Brennan of St Killian’s Crescent, Carlow, had worked for Carlow Institute of Technology for more than 20 years before being dismissed in July 2009 for gross misconduct.
Mr Brennan had closed up early on the Friday before the June bank holiday weekend, unaware that a postgraduate student remained inside.
The trapped female student was forced to set off the alarm later that night as all the exits had been locked. The alarm alerted the local fire brigade who attended the scene.
Mr Brennan had been rostered until 11pm on the night of May 29th when the incident occurred but closed up shortly after 6pm. He did so because it was custom to close early on a Friday before a bank holiday weekend when the institute was out of term and the library was closed, he said.
The institute disputed this claim, saying management was unaware of any such custom.
Mr Brennan told the tribunal he had waited until all the cars had left the car park and had checked inside the building before closing.
He was unable to access all areas, he added, as digital locks had been installed on some doors and he did not have all the codes available to him.
He had been unable to find alternative full-time employment since as his record stated that he had been dismissed for gross misconduct. In its ruling the tribunal found that while Mr Brennan deserved some punishment, it considered his firing to be a disproportionate response and ordered Carlow IT to re-employ him.
In a separate case before the tribunal a former managing director was awarded €295,000 in compensation after it was found he was unfairly selected for redundancy.
Michael Fitzpatrick of Offington Park in Sutton, Dublin, had established Eurodrug Ltd in 2004 before it was sold in 2006 to a larger company. He was then made managing director of the subsidiary company in Dublin before being made redundant in 2009.
The process by which Mr Fitzpatrick was made redundant was lacking in transparency and objectivity, the tribunal found.
In other rulings a former security guard from Dublin was awarded €68,000 for unfair dismissal by Bank of Ireland.
Meanwhile, an engineer who had been employed with Boston Scientific in Clonmel, Co Tipperary was awarded €80,000.