A FORMER editor of a Cork evening newspaper who had incurred debts of up to £130,000, partly due to a gambling, addiction, has taken a case against his former employers for unfair dismissal.
Mr Edwin Lyons, (44), who worked with Examiner Publications for 26 years, is seeking reinstatement to the post of imaging editor of the group.
He was dismissed after attending a lunch at Tralee racecourse and a race night in a hotel after being told not to put himself in the way of gambling temptations.
His solicitor Mr Cormac O'Hanlon, told the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Cork yesterday that Mr Lyons had not been reprimanded by management until a month before his dismissal. Eventually, he was offered an other job at a reduced salary, but he had refused this.
Mr Anthony Dinan, financial and human resources director of Examiner Publications, said he received a call from a bank in April 1293 to say Mr Lyons had severe financial difficulties.
Over the next 14 months Examiner Publications on his behalf negotiated with the banks and persuaded one bank not to repossess his home. They worked out a 20 year repayment schedule with the banks and the company went guarantor for £75,000 of the debts, Mr Dinan said.
He told the tribunal that Mr Lyons had agreed to spend 28 days in a treatment centre and to attend weekly counselling sessions. He had agreed not to go to any place where he might be tempted to gamble.
Mr Dinan said that the company was unhappy with his work and he had been asked to step down as editor. He retained his annual salary of £33,000 and his company car and became imaging editor responsible for all non print material in the Examiner and Evening Echo. A few months later, he attended a race night in a hotel and went to a lunch at Tralee race course. He took holidays and days off without telling the editors.
The hearing was adjourned until the next available date expected to be in September.