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A supermarket worker sacked for allegedly telling a colleague to slow down as staff would get more overtime has won over €9,000 for unfair dismissal.

Union activist Eileen Buckley allegedly told the Dunnes Stores worker in the juices area to “drag himself around” as it would result in more work, it was claimed.

But when she got the boot for gross misconduct, she took the supermarket giant to the employment appeals tribunal and won €9,330.

The tribunal also said, however, that Buckley, who worked in Dunnes’ Bishopstown, Cork branch, had made a major contribution to her own dismissal.

In evidence, the juices worker, ‘MS’ said that Buckley approached him and said that he had to slow down and that this would create more work.

An employee for 10 years, ‘MS’ said Buckley then had a text sent to him through a colleague, MV, again telling him to slow down.

The extra hours would lead to extra pay for him and others and MS would make more money if he “dragged himself around”.

MS told the EAT he had not felt great when he had got “this instruction” about not working so fast.

MS reported receiving the instruction to management. Dunnes mounted an investigation that ended with Ms Buckley’s instant dismissal.

A manager with Dunnes for 36 years, JP told the EAT that Buckley was accused of seeking to create a situation where extra hours would be worked and extra pay earned.

Over a four day hearing in Cork, JP told the EAT that he found MS’s evidence compelling and made a finding against Buckley.

JP told the hearing that Buckley had set out to try to create overtime/further costs. If the floor was not finished there could be thirty extra hours for a number of people.

The EAT report stated that when it was put to JP that there was no suggestion that Buckley was organising a go-slow, JP replied that no-one should speak against their employer.

Giving sworn testimony, Buckley said that she had worked with Dunnes for ten years and had been a union shop steward for nearly nine years.

Buckley said that she felt that MS was rushing around. She did not mean him to slow down to gain more hours.

She said that she felt that her dismissal had been premeditated and there was another reason behind her dismissal.

There was a long history between herself and Dunnes and she had brought applications against Dunnes every year about her Christmas hours and won.

Buckley told the Tribunal that she had not succeeded in getting new employment since her dismissal. She would not say ‘to drag himself around’ if she had known that it would lead her to the Tribunal. She had used a poor choice of words in the e-mail.

In its determination, the EAT said that Dunnes’ procedures in dealing with the allegations had been flawed.

It found that Buckley contributed to her dismissal by approaching people and was disobedient in that she had contacted others.

The award was made up for €8,000 for unfair dismissal and €1,330 to compensate for being dismissed without notice.