However, the court rejected a claim of unfair dismissal by Virginia Linehan after finding that Aer Lingus' decision to dismiss her was not unfair and that it was within the range of reasonable responses for an employer.
The Labor Court ruling took into account Ms Linehan's public role at the airline and was signed by deputy chairman Louise O'Donnell. She confirmed a similar finding by the Workplace Relations Commission in July 2023.
This ruling was appealed to the Employment Tribunal by Ms Linehan, who was employed by Aer Lingus from July 2009 until her dismissal in May 2021.
Ms O'Donnell pointed out that the former Aer Lingus employee had accepted in her submissions to the Court that her behavior on 31 July 2019 was not acceptable in the workplace and that she deeply regrets what happened.
Under cross-examination at the court hearing, Ms Linehan confirmed she had called two people bullies and bitches, but stated it was a stress response. When asked what triggered the backlash, Ms Linehan said it was years of bullying.
When asked whether she accepted that her behavior was completely unacceptable, Ms Linehan said 'no'. However, she did admit that she would find it unacceptable if someone called her a bitch or a bully.
Aer Lingus said Ms Linehan's employment was terminated for serious misconduct after she was verbally abusive and aggressive towards colleagues during the July 31 incident.
The incident was captured on CCTV and was seen by several employees.
On the day in question, Ms. Linehan informed her supervisor that she was going to lunch at a certain time, which was approved. Aer Lingus said Ms Linehan also called crew control, which assigns staff to the departure and arrival gates, for unknown reasons.
Ms Linehan stated that she did not know if she had made a reservation for lunch or what time to return, and decided to go to the Hub Control Center (HCC).
Aer Lingus, represented by Tom Mallon BL, stated that when Ms Linehan arrived she was verbally abusive to staff. The airline said her behavior undermined their trust in her because she had a public role.
In evidence, Aer Lingus ground operations leader Ms Hayes said she was called “a bitch” after asking Ms Linehan to come to her office at the HCC.
Cathy Dolan, an Aer Lingus airside boarding area manager, said that when Ms Linehan approached her, she called her a bitch three times and called her a bully. Ms Dolan said it was the worst experience she had ever had in her workplace.
In evidence, Ms Linehan suggested that the Employment Tribunal should take into account the fact that she was under stress when the incident occurred. She had felt, and her union at the time raised this, that Aer Lingus should treat the incident as a welfare issue, rather than a disciplinary issue, but the airline would not do that.
Ms Linehan believes her employment was unfairly terminated arising from her exercising her right to make a complaint in 2014.
She believes that from that point on, she was treated less favorably than her colleagues and that the cumulative effect of the different treatment led to stressors that ultimately led to the event on July 31, 2019.
In the court's findings, Ms O'Donnell stated that Ms Linehan could not provide a reasonable explanation for why she went to the HCC when her supervisor had already approved her lunch.