Two furniture delivery men who decided not to watch Ireland's World Cup match with Germany last year so that they could finish work early were subsequently unfairly dismissed, a tribunal has found.
The two men, both from Co Galway, Mr Martin Coen, Killeenavarna, Kinvara and Mr Frank Hynes, Rahard, Athenry, were awarded a total of almost €10,000 in compensation.
An employment appeals tribunal found that they were not afforded fair procedures by their employer, Tom Dempsey Carpets and Bedding Ltd of Oranmore, Co Galway, before they were sacked in June last year.
The two told the tribunal that on June 5th, the day Ireland played Germany in Japan, their employer closed the company shop from 12.15 p.m. to 2.15 p.m. to facilitate staff who wished to watch the match.
The two men did not watch the match, however, or take a dinner break, and made eleven deliveries on the day, they said. When they had finished making deliveries at 5 p.m., they decided to go home.
The men said they normally worked until 6 p.m., and sometimes up to two hours after that, for which they were paid overtime. They believed they were entitled to leave early that day, having neither watched the match nor taken a dinner break.
In evidence to the tribunal, representatives of the company denied that the men were dismissed following the June 5th incident.
They claimed that at a meeting on June 7th, the men said they were no longer prepared to "clock in and out", in common with other workers in the company. The firm said the two men left work early after that meeting and were subsequently given their wages and P45s.
The tribunal, chaired by Mr Jeremiah Sheedy, unanimously found that both men were unfairly dismissed. Neither had been given a warning and the company had no procedures in place, it said. It awarded compensation of €6,720 to Mr Coen and €2,240 to Hynes under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2001.
