Woman sacked over Michaela video loses unfair dismissal case

A WOMAN who liked and shared a video of people singing an offensive song about Michaela McAreavey has lost a claim for unfair dismissal.

An industrial tribunal panel ruled this week that the Southern Health and Social Care Trust had been entitled to dismiss Rhonda Shiels from her job in the wake of the incident.

The panel described the streaming of the video, filmed in an Orange Hall in Belfast in May 2022, as a “truly disgraceful event”.

It showed a group singing a song referencing the killing of Mrs McAreavey – the daughter of former Tyrone GAA manager, Mickey Harte – while on her honeymoon in Mauritius in 2011.

The footage was livestreamed by the claimant’s partner, Andrew McDade. Shiels, who had been working for the Southern Trust as a healthcare assistant for five years, then liked and shared the video.

In a written judgement, the tribunal panel said, “On May 28, 2022, the claimant had attended an event in the grounds of Stormont.

“On the same date, her partner had been taking part in a march organised by the Orange Order and had then been invited to Dundonald Orange Hall, together with other bandsmen and members, for refreshments.

“The claimant’s partner had livestreamed a video from Dundonald Orange Hall on his own Facebook account.

“The claimant (Shiels) had been immediately notified of that livestream and had opened it. The claimant accepted in a statement of agreed facts that she had liked and shared the video.”

The judgment concluded, “The decision by the respondent (Southern Trust) to uphold the charges of gross misconduct and to impose a penalty of summary dismissal was, in the opinion of the tribunal, a decision which a reasonable employer could properly have reached in all the circumstances of this case.

“The circumstances were such that summary dismissal was justified.”