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 23, 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.
Ms Carey, aged 27, from Clondalkin, Dublin, told a hearing of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) 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 four and a half 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 operating officer and president Nir Zohar said 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 Tánaiste Micheál Martin to claim that 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 both 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 two to two and a half 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 after losing her job in Wix and had to move in with a relative.
Only issue
WRC adjudication officer Marie Flynn said the only issue between the parties was the appropriate level of compensation given that Wix had accepted that Ms Carey’s dismissal was unfair.
Ms Flynn said that the award of compensation based on anything other than financial loss was outside the jurisdiction of the WRC.
She said it was “simply incorrect” for Ms Carey to seek “a just and equitable test” to be applied in the case as the legislation made it clear that the test was one of financial loss.
The WRC heard that the complainant earned a salary of €40,000 with Wix but she had subsequently taken up a temporary position with An Post in May 2024 on a reduced annual gross salary of €27,698.
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.
It estimated that she continues to suffer a weekly loss of almost €237 due to her current lower salary with An Post.
However, Ms Flynn ruled that Ms Carey had not made significant efforts to mitigate her loss since being fired by Wix.
She claimed documentation submitted by Ms Carey about seeking other work was “very sparse” and did not enable her to investigate the substance of her claims.
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,” said Ms Carey. “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.”
