An Israeli tech firm has been ordered to pay €35,000 compensation to a former Irish employee who was unfairly fired after she labelled Israel a “terrorist state” on social media.
Wix Online Platforms had accepted that it had unfairly dismissed customer care team lead, Courtney Carey, on October 23rd, 2023 for gross misconduct over online comments she had made about her concerns about the situation in Palestine.
The Israeli multinational, which employs around 500 people in its Dublin office, acknowledged that the manner in which it had dismissed Ms Carey had been “procedurally unfair.”
The company, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv, provides a platform for building websites.
'Blacklisted'
Ms Carey (27) from Clondalkin, Dublin told a hearing of the Workplace Relations Commission in June that she felt “blacklisted” from working in the tech sector as a result of the controversy which arose over her dismissal from Wix where she had worked for 4½ years.
In posts and comments on LinkedIn, Ms Carey had described Israel as a “terrorist state” and criticised the “indiscriminate” bombing of Gaza by Israel.
Wix’s chief operations and president, Nir Zohar, explained last year that the company had decided to part ways with Ms Carey after it had been bombarded with messages from Israeli employees who had complained about Ms Carey through screenshots of her post.
The controversy prompted the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, to claim Ms Carey’s dismissal was “unacceptable” as employees “should be allowed their individual viewpoints.”
Ms Carey said the very public nature of her dismissal and the subsequent comments made by a senior Wix executive had a very negative effect on her efforts to mitigate her losses and on her future career prospects.
She claimed she had subsequently applied for 60 jobs which Wix's legal representatives pointed out represented 2-2.5 jobs per week.
They also suggested that the complainant had received political support at the time of her dismissal and that her reputation had not been damaged given the many positive comments she had received on social media.
However, Ms Carey said she had been unable to afford her €1,800 monthly rent on a studio apartment after losing her job in Wix and had to move in with a relative.
'The Workplace Relations Commission'
WRC adjudication officer, Marie Flynn, said the only issue between the parties was the appropriate level of compensation given Wix had accepted Ms Carey’s dismissal was unfair.
Ms Flynn stressed that the award of compensation based on anything other than financial loss was outside the jurisdiction of the WRC.
The WRC calculated that Ms Carey had suffered a loss of income of €20,000 over the six months she was out of work after being paid four weeks’ notice on her dismissal.
However, Ms Flynn ruled that Ms Carey had not made significant efforts to mitigate her loss since being fired by Wix.
Fixing the appropriate level of compensation at €35,000, Ms Flynn said the number of jobs for which Ms Carey had applied was not sufficient even if such information had been provided given she was out of work for six months.
Under legislation, the maximum award that could have been made by the WRC in the Wix case was €80,000 – the equivalent of two years’ salary.
Following the WRC hearing last month, Ms Carey said she had no regrets about her original comment about the situation in Gaza, despite being subjected to what she claimed were derogatory and defamatory posts telling “complete lies” about her online.
“I think I was very soft-handed. What has happened since to Palestinians and what has been happening at the hands of the Israeli government has only exacerbated and got worse. I’m glad I said what I said,” said Ms Carey.
She added: “It was true then and it’s even more true now. I think the evidence is damning when we look at what Israel is doing to Palestinians.”
Michael McAleer
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