IEL Elite

Overview

Duncan Inverarity leads A&L Goodbody’s employment team from Dublin.

The group is able to offer a full-island service through its satellite office in Belfast, where Aisling Byrne is a key contact. Byrne in 2022 was featured in IEL’s Women Leaders survey.

The department often works alongside international firms to advise on the Irish aspects of multi-jurisdictional transactions and disputes, and can pool expertise from other areas of the full-service firm to offer complete advice to clients in cross-practice matters. In addition, through its membership of the Employment Law Alliance, the firm is part of a global network of leading employment law teams, bolstering its cross-border abilities.

Specialisms

The department is well-versed in the gamut of employment law issues, from outsourcing considerations through to health and safety, new ways of working in the covid-19 era, data breaches, industrial action, and senior executive exits. Notable activity this past year has included corporate immigration support, and preparation for the implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive.

The team regularly advises on compliance, executive compensation, and whistleblowing complaints in highly regulated sectors, including financial services and life sciences.

The group also offers significant proficiency in assisting with corporate transactions, including spin-offs, and can assist with aspects from due diligence through to post-acquisition employee integration.

Partner Michael Doyle has particular expertise in major M&A operations, as evidenced in his advice to the Bank of Ireland on its purchase of Ireland’s largest stockbroker, Davy. This included the preparation of restrictive covenants, the remuneration aspects of the proposed acquisition, and long-term incentive plans.

The team offers significant experience in employment disputes, including representation before the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. This experience encompasses discrimination and unfair dismissal claims.

For example, Noeleen Meehan successfully represented a large multinational life sciences company in a dispute with a former employee. The ex-employee argued that their contract termination for gross misconduct was exaggerated as the incident leading to the dismissal had been human error. The Workplace Relations Commission in January 2022 agreed in favour of the employer owing to the safety-critical nature of the work carried out by the dismissed employee.

A further headline mandate was the successful representation by Inverarity of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. Former employees filed a number of complaints relating to the overnight termination of their contracts after the entity went into emergency liquidation in 2013. The employees argued they should receive remuneration for voluntary redundancy and should rank ahead of creditors in the liquidation process.

The group is also well placed to act as external investigators in (or advise on) complex investigation proceedings, including those involving criminal allegations.

In addition, the department offers a Gender Pay Gap Hub to assist clients with pay gap reporting.

Clients