Meath is a commuter county, and that shapes its dismissal claims: a large share of the workforce leaves Navan, Ashbourne, Dunboyne, Ratoath and Trim each morning for jobs in Dublin, while the employers based in Meath itself are concentrated in logistics, food processing and agriculture. Whichever side of the county boundary the job was on, the forum is the same. An unfair dismissal solicitor in Meath is working with the Workplace Relations Commission, which hears most of its cases at Lansdowne House in Dublin or remotely, and with the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015, which apply to employment in the State whether the job was in Navan or in Dublin 2. Our Dublin office at Ormond Quay Upper serves Meath clients.
Unfair Dismissal Claims in Meath
The commuter pattern means that many Meath claims are against Dublin employers in financial services, technology, the public sector and the professions. Those cases usually come with a documented process, a handbook and a performance framework, so the question is whether the procedure matched the Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures (S.I. 146/2000) and whether the sanction was proportionate. Employment inside the county looks different. Logistics and distribution along the M1 and around Ashbourne run on shift patterns, agency staff and probation periods, so the first questions decide whether the Acts apply at all: whether the employee has a year of continuous service under section 2(1)(a), whether a written probation period of a year or less under section 3 excludes the claim, and whether a section 6(2A) exception brings it back in. Food processing and the wider agri-food sector, among the county’s largest employers, produce conduct and capability dismissals delivered quickly on the floor, often without the written allegation, the hearing and the appeal that S.I. 146/2000 requires, and often to employees for whom English is a second language. There, the written statement of reasons, due within 14 days of a request under section 14(4), is usually the first document that pins the employer to a ground.
A Meath complaint goes in through the WRC eComplaint portal, and the hearing, if there is one, is most often listed at Lansdowne House in Ballsbridge or held remotely, which the WRC offers unless the interests of justice require otherwise; the WRC also sits regionally. Hearings are in public and the parties are named in the published decision unless special circumstances exist. Before any of that, the WRC offers mediation, which is free, voluntary and confidential, and most claims settle, which is where the mediation credential earns its place. Either side may appeal to the Labour Court, which also sits in Dublin, within 42 days. The deadline is the part that catches commuters: six months from the date of dismissal, extendable to twelve only for reasonable cause under section 8(2), with the date of dismissal fixed by section 1 as the date notice expired or should have expired. The first consultation therefore starts with the date you were told and the notice you were given.
The Dublin office at The Ormond Building, 31-36 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7, is on the north quays, on the city side of the M3 and N2 approaches and a walk along the quays from Connolly for anyone arriving by train from Dunboyne or on the Drogheda line through Laytown and Gormanston. Most of the work, though, runs on documents rather than meetings: the contract, the handbook, the dismissal letter, the disciplinary correspondence and the payslips, exchanged by email with calls and Zoom in between, so a client in Kells or Oldcastle is at no disadvantage. Employers in Meath defending a claim, whether a distribution depot, a food plant or a farm business, get the same analysis from the other side: whether the stated reason is a fair ground under 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 Meath 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 Meath?
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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