One of the recurrent themes in successful unfair dismissal claims by employees is the matter of fair procedures and process.
A large number of cases are lost by employers not on account of a want of justification for the dismissal. But as a consequence of failing to apply proper, or any, procedures in the process of dismissing the employee.
Many employers make the same mistake and view the subsequent win by the employee as some sort of technical win or premised on the proposition that the law is an ass, and you will never know what some of those Workplace Relations Commission adjudicators will decide.
As long as employers overlook the constitutional rights to fair procedures and natural justice in the workplace, they will lose cases they would otherwise have had no difficulty defending.
I wrote a little book a few years ago with the aim of ramming home the importance of a fair disciplinary procedure in the workplace. It is a book I will take a fresh look at in the near future as there does not seem to be any diminution of cases being lost by employers on the grounds of absence of fair procedures.
You can take a look at the book here: How to carry out a workplace disciplinary procedure
Learn more about employment law in Ireland on this website of mine.