Ex-employee awarded €32,000 for unpaid gardening leave

A property company has been ordered to pay a former employee nearly €32,000 after putting him on gardening leave for three months – but failing to pay him for it.
The employee, Corry Bourke, was awarded the sum after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) upheld his complaint under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against his former employer, Allied Irish Property Ltd in a decision published on Monday.
Mr Bourke had worked for the company in a senior position from September 2020 to late in 2023 – when “unhappy differences” arose, the tribunal noted in a decision published today (MON).
On 14 December 2023, Mr Bourke received an email from his employer stating that he had resigned two days earlier and placing him on “garden leave/notice period” for three months from that date, the tribunal was told.
Mr Bourke told the WRC he had “never resigned” in the first place and that he was not paid for his notice period, as his contract required.
His claim was for €25,794.48 in notice pay and €5,778.95 in accrued annual leave, the tribunal noted.
Adjudicator David James Murphy noted that the company’s managing director, John Dowd, made no appearance on the first occasion the case was called on and later provided a medical note.
Mr Murphy added that he then wrote to Mr Dowd asking whether he was contesting the case and that Mr Dowd replied offering to settle the case.
A letter from Mr Dowd read: “I will agree to the amount payable … on the condition Mr. Bourke agrees this amount is the full and final amount payable and no further case or claim will be made against the company now or in the future under any condition,” Mr Murphy added.
The adjudicator wrote that the matter had been given to him “for adjudication, not mediation” and that he had “no power to force either party to prejudice their rights” – but had to determine the complaint in front of him.
He concluded Mr Bourke’s wages during his notice period and his accrued annual leave were owed and “were not paid”. Upholding the complaint, he directed Allied Irish Property Ltd to pay Mr Bourke €31,573.