A Sligo man has received the highest ever compensation payout for unfair dismissal.
Gary Rooney, who was a senior executive with social media company X, formerly Twitter, has received compensation of over €550,000 after his claim was upheld by the Workplace Relations Commission.
It’s understood that X took Mr Rooney’s refusal to agree to unspecified changes to pay and conditions as his resignation, following an email that was sent to all employees after the platform was bought by Elon Musk.
Employees were given 24 hours to respond to the email.
After failing to click “yes” in the email, it was taken that Mr Rooney had resigned.
Following a 73-page WRC ruling, it was found that his decision not to click “yes” was not capable of constituting as an act of resignation.
The payout is the biggest ever for an unfair dismissal case, toppling the €440,000 that tech company Hyph Ireland was ordered to pay to musician Mick Kiely in 2021.
