Richard Corrigan says something is rotten in employment law.

Exclusive: Chef Richard Corrigan “shocked” by dismissal award

3rd June 2010, 5:28pm

A waiter sacked from the Dublin retaurant of celebrity chef Richard Corrigan, having failed to turn up for work for three days, has been awarded €10,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.

The award, made by an Irish employment appeals tribunal, has infuriated Corrigan, who has high-profile restaurants in both London and Dublin. "This shocking case demonstrates how easy it is to get €10,000 out of the tribunal," he said. "There is something rotten in employment law in Ireland, with its bias against employers."

The waiter, Frenchman Jimmy (stet) Boiron, had been employed at Bentley's, Corrigan's restaurant on St Stephen's Green. According to evidence given to the tribunal, he had phoned in one day to say he was ill, then stayed away for a further two days without making any contact.

The restaurant manager who fired him claimed the incident was the final straw, that Boiron was late for work by up to an hour at least once every two weeks, and would report for duty "smelling of alcohol and with bloodshot eyes on a weekly basis". One night around Halloween, he had turned up "clearly on alcohol and drugs".

In his testimony, Boiron admitted he had taken drugs that night, but said he was not working and had gone to the restaurant to show off his fancy-dress outfit. He said he had stopped taking drink and drugs on work nights and had been ill with flu and a 'crick' in his neck on the three days he was absent.

He also claimed that he had been bullied by the manager because he was French, had been expected to work non-stop from 5.30pm to midnight, and had been denied cigarette breaks. As a result of being fired, he had been unable to find another job in Ireland and had now returned to France.

In its finding, the tribunal said it was making the compensation award because the manager had not followed "proper procedures" in the dismissal, in that he had failed to issue the required warnings. But Corrigan said that if workers in the industry could not stand the heat, they should get out of the kitchen and find a new career.

"We can't have employees choosing when to opt in and out of work, leaving someone else to pick up the slack," he added. "If people aren't pulling together, the whole thing quickly unravels."

Reporting from Anthony Garvey

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• 12 Apr 2010 - Chef Richard Corrigan hits back at “whispering campaign”

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