A Co Louth man has claimed in the High Court that he was fired from his job as an IT engineer contractor at Dublin Airport for telling an Aer Lingus employee to “f**k off”.
Colm Dunne, from St Laurence’s Park, Drogheda, claims his dismissal last month from his post at ESP Global Services Ltd, an IT support services firm, was “extremely harsh” and “not proportionate”.
Mr Dunne was allegedly dismissed after a disciplinary process determined his use of “inappropriate language” towards the Aer Lingus employee constituted gross misconduct.
Mr Dunne does not accept his use of the swear word “justifies a charge of or constitutes gross misconduct”. It is Mr Dunne’s case that it has never been explained how his use of the obscenity amounts to gross misconduct.
Mr Justice Brian Cregan last week granted a number of short-term injunctive orders sought by Mr Dunne, including that ESP restrain from taking steps to give effect to his purported dismissal. The orders were granted with only Mr Dunne’s side represented.
Mr Justice Cregan also gave permission to Conor Power SC, for Mr Dunne and instructed by Feran & Co solicitors, to serve the proceedings on ESP.
In a sworn statement to the court, Mr Dunne says that during the course of a shift on January 27th, he had an “unfortunate” interaction with a member of Aer Lingus’s check-in team.
Mr Dunne says the Aer Lingus employee approached Mr Dunne about a malfunctioning self-service kiosk, used by passengers to check in baggage before a flight. Mr Dunne was tending to another faulty kiosk at the time of the interaction.
During the course of this interaction, Mr Dunne admits that he “regrettably” told the employee to “go away” and “f**k off”.
Mr Dunne says the Aer Lingus employee raised a formal complaint regarding the interaction.
On January 31st, Mr Dunne says he was informed by ESP’s human resource (HR) department that he was to be suspended from work pending the outcome of an investigation “into an allegation of gross misconduct” – namely, that he “used inappropriate language” towards an Aer Lingus employee.
On February 4th, Mr Dunne says, he was told by his HR department that the investigation had concluded. It is Mr Dunne’s case that he had no communication with his employer during the purported investigation.
At a disciplinary hearing on February 7th, Mr Dunne says he was informed that, “by reason of [his] action having been considered to be gross misconduct”, he was to be dismissed immediately. He says that his offer to apologise to the Aer Lingus employee in person was turned down.
Mr Dunne says his job was advertised on ESP’s vacancies webpage on February 12th.
Mr Dunne says that he appealed his dismissal to his employer on a number of grounds, including that the punishment was “extremely harsh” and “not proportionate”.
However, the appeal process and hearing failed to address “the very serious defects of fairness of procedure and due process” in the disciplinary process, Mr Dunne claims.
Mr Dunne, who has worked at ESP since October 2021, says he has enjoyed an unblemished disciplinary record before the incident in question.
The case returns to court this week.
