Sushi chef sacked five days after suffering miscarriage awarded €8k for unfair dismissal
Darragh Mc Donagh
A sushi chef who was sacked five days after suffering a miscarriage has been awarded €8,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal.
Battsetseg Seddavaa had worked for Beacon Sushi Limited in Dublin for around 18 months when she informed her employers that she was pregnant in October 2024.
The company operates the award-winning Michie Sushi restaurant in Sandyford. It previously had branches in Ranelagh and Dun Laoghaire.
On December 7th, Ms Seddavaa sent a text message to Michael Piare, the managing director of the firm, telling him that she was experiencing symptoms of a miscarriage, and informing him that she would not be able to work.
“Hi Michael, I am not gonna work tomorrow. I was bleeding at work and it hurts to walk down stinging,” she wrote, an adjudication hearing of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard.
She suffered a miscarriage on December 9th and, the following day, a colleague advised Mr Piare of the situation. He sent a message to Ms Seddavaa, expressing sympathy and asking when she would return to work.
On December 13th, she missed a call from the managing director and subsequently received a letter via WhatsApp, confirming that her employment was being terminated, giving her two weeks’ notice, which she was expected to work.
She attended hospital again on December 18th but managed to return to work the same day with a sick note from the Rotunda Hospital covering the period from December 8th to December 18th.
On December 28th, the chef received a text message from Mr Piare asking that all work property be returned.
Representatives for the company told the WRC that Ms Seddavaa had poor timekeeping and had received several verbal warnings as a result. A formal written warning was issued on March 19th, 2024.
They noted that the managing director had communicated to the complainant that she would need to inform him directly of any absences in accordance with company policy, and she failed to do so.
In his decision, WRC adjudicator Breiffni O’Neill said the termination letter had not set out any reasons for dismissal, no consideration had been given to the medical circumstances, no meeting was convened, and there was no opportunity to appeal.
The company claimed that Ms Seddavva’s dismissal was due to her failure to comply with absence-reporting procedures, but Mr O’Neill noted that the managing director had been fully aware of her miscarriage.
Reliance on “technical breaches” of procedures in the circumstances was neither reasonable nor proportionate, he said in his decision, adding that it would be unreasonable to place significant weight on this omission.
“Most significantly, the [company] did not adhere to the basic principles of natural justice and fair procedures,” he said, noting that employees should be advised of concerns, given opportunities to respond, be allowed representation, and have access to appeal before a decision to dismiss is taken.
Strictly speaking, Ms Seddavva had failed to personally notify her employer of her absence, said Mr O’Neill, but he added that “context was crucial”, noting that she had just had a miscarriage and was in a distressed medical and emotional condition.
Mr O’Neill awarded the complainant compensation of €8,000 in respect of unfair dismissal.
