'I can’t work with you': Lorry driver awarded €18,000 after text message dismissal from Limerick haulage firm
Algis Cesonis brought a complaint for unfair dismissal against Cappamore-based Martin Ryan Haulage Limited to the Workplace Relations Commission
A LIMERICK haulage company has been ordered to pay €18,000 in compensation to a lorry driver who was sacked by text message after complaining of back pain.
Algis Cesonis, a Lithuanian national, brought a complaint for unfair dismissal against Cappamore-based Martin Ryan Haulage Limited to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Mr Cesonis had been employed as a lorry driver delivering butter and cheese since August 2021 by John McGrath Haulage Transport Limited, working from a site in Mitchelstown.
In June 2024, Martin Ryan Haulage Limited took over the butter transport contract following a tender process, and Mr Cesonis moved across to drive for the new firm on gross pay of €850 per week.
The company denied unfair dismissal, raising a preliminary objection that Mr Cesonis had only started work with them on June 1, 2024 and therefore had insufficient service to ground an unfair dismissal claim.
It relied on a clause in his employment statement asserting that no prior employment would count towards continuous service, contending that TUPE regulations did not apply because the company had simply won a contract and taken on certain drivers as new recruits following an interview.
Mr Cesonis said he had been assured during staff meetings before the handover that there would be no change to his working conditions and that “the only change would be the entity that was paying him”.
However, he said the workload broadened to include carrying fertiliser, which led to a conflict over his pre-existing back injury.
The hearing was told that Mr Cesonis informed manager Declan Ryan in September 2024 that he could not strap fertiliser onto a truck bed due to severe back pain. Later that day, he received a text message from the employer stating that, if he had informed them of a medical condition restricting daily work, “I wouldn’t have agreed to you starting with us... I can’t work [with] you.”
Mr Cesonis texted back, “Noted – my firing date is today 3rd September, 2024,” and the manager replied: “You were not fired, you refused to do your work, just to be clear.”
Mr Cesonis responded that he had only declined the task due to back pain and asked why his accrued holiday pay was being calculated, to which the employer replied: “Because we always pay people what they are due now good night.”
When he presented for work on September 12 following a week of certified sick leave, a yard man allegedly asked him: “Why are you here, you have been dismissed.”
Mr Ryan gave evidence that Mr Cesonis had been hired as a fresh employee and had refused to carry out his assigned duties, insisting that nobody had informed the firm of any underlying health problem.
In her decision, Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer Patsy Doyle rejected the employer’s contention that Mr Cesonis lacked the service required to claim unfair dismissal.
She ruled that the butter transport operation was an economic entity that had retained its identity across the changeover, meaning TUPE applied and Mr Cesonis enjoyed continuous service dating back to August 2021.
She found that the contractual clause attempting to strip him of previous service was void.
Ms Doyle found that the dismissal had been procedurally void of fairness, highlighting “a carelessness in how the complainant was treated”, and an absence of any formal procedure or appeal.
Finding that Mr Cesonis made a 30% contribution to his dismissal through his lack of engagement and casual approach to returning to work, the adjudication officer ordered Martin Ryan Haulage Limited to pay him €18,000 in compensation.