A SENIOR surveyor with the building company PJ Hegarty and Sons has secured an interim High Court order restraining the company from terminating his employment.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan yesterday granted the interim order, returnable to next week, to Roddy Horan SC, for Liam Ryan (33), a father of one
In an affidavit, Mr Ryan said he was the most senior surveyor with the company at its Limerick and Galway offices.
Mr Ryan said he was informed by letter on February 18th last that the company was obliged to make him redundant because of the downturn in the construction industry generally, as a result of which it was obliged to reduce the workforce.
However, he believed he was being "scapegoated" by the company for losses suffered by it in connection with a job in the radiotherapy unit in Limerick. He was not responsible for those losses, he said.
In his affidavit, Mr Ryan said he began working with the company on October 7th, 1996, as a surveyor. In February 2006, he was appointed to the position of senior surveyor on a salary of €59,000 per annum, plus bonus payments of about €14,000.
During his employment with the company, there were no complaints regarding his performance or competence and he was assured of his future tenure with the company, he said.
On January 18th, he received a telephone call from the regional surveying director, Martin O'Toole, informing him he was being taken off the Shannon custom and borders patrol contract.
That surprised him as he was actively working on that contract and his work had contributed to the company being awarded that €22 million contract.
He was informed days later that the company needed to urgently reduce their overheads from 5 per cent to 7 per cent and, to achieve this reduction, he was to be made redundant.
He was offered statutory redundancy of €14,304 and an ex-gratia payment of one month's salary of €4,920.
Mr Ryan said his purported dismissal would cause him immediate irreparable damage as well as loss of remuneration.