The founder of electric-vehicle battery maker Xerotech, based in Claregalway, has been awarded more than €420,000 by the Workplace Relations Commission.
The Irish Times is reporting that it's the biggest award so far this year at the WRC and the third-largest ever made by the tribunal in an unfair dismissals case.
Barry Flannery, the founder and CEO, said he was forced to resign from the manufacturing company in December 2024, two months before it collapsed into voluntary liquidation.
He told the WRC at a hearing in February that he was, without warning, cut off from company systems and then shut out from the business when his physical access rights were disabled.
In setting the award, the WRC factored in a non-compete clause in Barry Flannery’s contract, which blocked him from taking up a new job in his field until June 12th, 2026.
A few weeks before the voluntary liquidation the Corporate Park where Xerotech was based, several local schools and some homes at nearby Lakeview had to be evacuated due to a battery fire incident at the company.
