A worker who took time off for fertility treatment, only to be told on her return that she was out of a job, has been awarded €10,000 for unfair dismissal.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) made the award in an anonymised decision published on the worker’s complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, which dates back to 2022.
The tribunal heard the worker, a manager at an unspecified workplace earning €500 a week, had told her employer in November 2021 that she was “going to embark on the IVF journey”.
She said her employer was supportive at the time and that she had asked to step back from a managerial position at that point to reduce her stress levels.
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The complainant told the WRC she had joined the workplace as an assistant manager in September 2020 before stepping up to manager in July 2021 when a new hire for the job fell through.
The worker took a fortnight’s leave in January 2022 for her first transfer of embryos. Further transfers were planned in March and May that year and she decided to take time off for those as well, she said.
She said in evidence that she spoke to the owner of the company at the end of January and informed her that the IVF had failed at that stage.
The worker said she had “only returned to work after the first transfer” when she received a letter dated February 3rd 2022 stating that her job was being made redundant.
She said it was the first she heard about any redundancy situation and that it had come as a surprise to her manager too.
The worker finished up ahead of her termination date of February 20th that year and was paid in lieu of notice, the tribunal heard.
The worker’s evidence was that there had been no consultation process whatsoever and she was “completely unaware that her role was in jeopardy”, adjudication officer Niamh O’Carroll noted.
In a decision, Ms O’Carroll wrote that the employer was in liquidation and that the liquidator had written to the Commission to say the complaint “would not be contested”.
Ms O’Carroll ruled that the dismissal was unfair. She awarded €10,000 in compensation.
Ms O’Carroll anonymised her decision, removing the identities of both the worker and the employer, on the basis of the “very private and medically sensitive” evidence the complainant had given under oath.
The complaint, which was lodged with the WRC in August 2022, was heard in January 2024, with the decision document dated March 20th 2025 published on Thursday.
