Judge orders Radio Nova to pay unfair dismissal award to rock DJ Sinead Ni Mhordha
A loss-making Dublin radio station been ordered by a judge to pay a €30,000 unfair dismissal award to a rock DJ.
Broadcaster Sinead Ni Mhordha pursued former employer Classic Rock Broadcasting Ltd, which trades as Radio Nova, to the enforcement list at Dublin District Court today.
It followed a failure by the radio station to pay her award after she won an unfair dismissal claim at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Ian Fitzharris BL (instructed by solicitor Stephen O Faolain) told Judge Michael Coghlan this matter was before the WRC in September and November 2017. A decision was reached in January the following year but it was appealed by the station.
However, her former employer dropped the appeal in March this year.
The radio station broadcasts from Castleforbes House, Castleforbes Road, Dublin. Mr Fitzharris applied for the award to be granted, with interest, and there was an application for costs in bringing the matter before the court's enforcement list.
Ni Mhordha went to the US to find work, having been unfairly dismissed by by the respondent, counsel said.
She was not present for the hearing today.
The rock music station’s barrister told the court her client had been trying to put a plan in place.
The reason it was not paid was because her client was loss-making, and has been since the station was set up. It did not have the money in a lump sum and offered to pay it over 12 months but that had not been accepted.
Its hands were tied, counsel submitted.
Judge Coghlan remarked that if the company had been making a consistent loss it should not be allowed to trade and should be wound up.
He had added that what he had been told was an explanation, not an excuse.
In his findings, he affirmed the WRC’s adjudication offer, awarding Ni Mhordha €30,000. He directed that interest would be added and backdated to March this year when the station dropped its appeal against the WRC’s decision.
The company was also ordered to pay Ni Mhordha's legal costs.
It is an offence to fail to comply with the District Court order unless the employer can show, on the balance of probabilities, that it is simply unable to pay due to financial circumstances.
Radio Nova was granted a 10-year licence by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in 2010 to broadcast a rock music service to Dublin and the wider commuter belt, including parts of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.
