Galway’s employment has a particular shape, and an unfair dismissal solicitor in Galway works with it: the medical device plants on the east side of the city and in the county towns, which run documented quality systems and documented disciplinary procedures to match; the university and the hospitals, with their fixed-term contracts, funding cycles and public sector procedures; the wider public service; and the tourism, hospitality and retail trade of the city, Salthill, Connemara and the county from Tuam to Ballinasloe. Each of those employments is governed by the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015 and each dismissal goes to the Workplace Relations Commission. Most WRC hearings are listed at Lansdowne House, Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, the WRC also sits regionally, and remote hearings are available unless the interests of justice require otherwise, which for a Galway employee often means no travel at all. Galway clients are served by Zoom and phone from both our offices, in Dublin and in Kilkenny.
Unfair Dismissal Claims in Galway
In the medical device sector the dismissal is usually the last entry in a thick file: a quality or safety concern, a suspension, an investigation, a disciplinary hearing and an appeal. Suspension pending investigation should be a holding step on full pay for no longer than the investigation needs, the employee is entitled to know the allegation and to be represented under the Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures (S.I. 146/2000), and the sanction has to be proportionate to what the investigation actually found rather than to what was alleged. In the university and the public sector the issues run to fixed-term contracts, where the 2022 Regulations prevent a new probation period being imposed on renewal, and to constructive dismissal, where the WRC expects the internal grievance procedure to have been exhausted before the employee resigns and the burden of proving that the employer’s conduct met the contract test or the reasonableness test falls on the employee. In hospitality and retail the dismissals are quicker and less documented, so the written statement of reasons due within 14 days under section 14(4) and the notice owed under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973-2005 are the first things to secure, and for anyone with under a year of service the section 6(2A) exceptions and the Employment Equality Acts route, which has no service requirement, decide whether there is a claim at all.
The complaint itself is lodged through the WRC eComplaint portal and must be in within six months of the date of dismissal, which section 1 fixes as the date notice expired or should have expired; section 8(2) allows an extension to twelve months only for reasonable cause, and waiting for the outcome of an internal appeal is not reasonable cause. Mediation comes first, free, voluntary and confidential, and most claims settle there. If the case is heard, it is listed at Lansdowne House, at a regional sitting or remotely, which spares a Galway employee a day on the M6. The hearing is in public, the parties are named in the published decision unless special circumstances exist, written submissions are due 15 working days beforehand, and the WRC awards no legal costs, so each side pays its own. An appeal to the Labour Court must be lodged within 42 days of the decision and is a full re-hearing; an unappealed decision must be carried out within 56 days, after which the District Court can enforce it.
Galway clients are served by Zoom and phone from our Dublin office at The Ormond Building, 31-36 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7, D07 EE37, and our Kilkenny office at 2 Rose Inn Street, Kilkenny, R95 W58D, with in-person appointments at either by arrangement. Employers in Galway defending a claim get the same analysis from the other side: whether the stated reason is one of the fair grounds in section 6(4), whether the record shows a procedure that matched S.I. 146/2000, and whether free WRC mediation or an early settlement makes more commercial sense than a public hearing. We never act for both sides of the same dispute.
How We Work With Galway Clients
Dismissal claims run on documents, phone, Zoom and email — the contract, the dismissal letter, the disciplinary correspondence, the payslips — so distance costs nothing: we act for clients in every county from our Dublin and Kilkenny offices, and WRC hearings themselves are increasingly held remotely. The first consultation is the same wherever you are: your position on the documents, the realistic routes, and the six-month clock running on you. Start with the Dismissal Claim Route Finder, and check your own deadline on the WRC Deadline Calculator.
Mary Molloy Solicitors advise on employment law. Nothing on this page is advice on tax or on social welfare entitlements — take that advice separately. WRC procedure and time limits are strictly applied, and a late complaint is usually a lost complaint. Take advice before resigning, before signing anything, and before any deadline passes.
Dismissed or Forced Out in Galway?
One consultation establishes the legal position, the documents that decide it, the realistic routes and the deadlines - wherever in Ireland you worked.
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