Dublin Business School has been ordered to pay €53,000 after admitting that dismissing a lecturer for logging into his university email account from Iran was unfair.

Amir Sajad Esmaeily was awarded compensation following a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Accountancy & Business College (Ireland) Limited, trading as Dublin Business School, before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). ).

The university’s position was that Mr Esmaeily had been told not to access its DBS computer system while visiting what was described in his legal submission as a “prohibited” country.

He was fired on February 3, 2023, following a disciplinary process that concluded that “unauthorized access to his university emails while abroad constituted a serious violation of university policy,” the university’s lawyers said. university to the WRC.

Cillian McGovern BL, appearing instructed by barrister Barry Crushell, argued that his client’s actions “did not amount to serious misconduct” and that the university did not consider any sanction other than dismissal.

Esmaeily had traveled to attend her uncle’s funeral, the court was told. His lawyer has confirmed that the author was in Iran.

Claire Bruton BL, who was instructed by Hayes Solicitors for the defendant, admitted at a hearing in May that the dismissal was unfair. The only issue for the WRC to consider was compensation. Esmaeily earned a contractual salary of €50,000 a year, and additional supervisory duties raised his average annual income to €91,000, it was reported.

Esmaeily said that in addition to his uncle’s death, his wife became seriously ill around the time of his dismissal, which affected his job search.

He added that details of his dismissal had spread by “word of mouth” and affected his applications for new work and affected his “reputation and career prospects”.

The court heard that Mr Esmaeily made 35 job applications in the 18 months between his dismissal in February 2023 and a final hearing in August 2024. Ms Bruton claimed there was “no evidence” the claimant applied job outside their field, or who met the jurisprudential requirement of striving every day to find a new job.

In his ruling on Mr Esmaeily’s case, Judge Hugh Lonsdale wrote: “His efforts to find work do not meet the requirements of the Unfair Dismissals Act. However, I am aware of personal events in his life and the effect of his dismissal on the complainant.”

“As the defendant has admitted that his actions amount to unfair dismissal, I accept that the claimant was entitled to feel unfair about the disciplinary process to which he was subjected,” he added.

Lonsdale wrote that he considered €53,000 to be “fair and equitable” compensation for the unfair dismissal in the circumstances.