Tom Mallon BL

Tom has practiced mainly in the area of employment law and related matters in all of the Irish Courts and appears regularly before the WRC and the Labour Court and previously before the Employment Appeals Tribunal. He represents employers and employees and has particular interests in termination of employment, employment equality and protected disclosures.  He has appeared in a significant number of High Court employment injunctions and has also acted in injunctions pertaining to trade disputes.

Tom is an Accredited Mediator (CEDR) and acts as a mediator mainly in disputes relating to employment but also in associated matters such as those arising in relation to partnerships, pension issues, shareholder disputes and commercial disputes with a significant employment related element.  He also undertakes workplace investigations, particularly those pertaining to issues with senior employees and executives.

Tom lectures regularly, particularly on a number of advanced diplomas offered by Kings Inns.

Tom is a Bencher of the Kings Inns and was a founding member and the first Chair of the Employment Bar Association.

Tom is instructed by solicitors and in-house counsel on a wide number of court and non-court related matters. He regularly advises on draft contracts of employment, advises in relation to disciplinary investigations, the application of internal policies and procedures dealing with such matters as bullying in the workplace, protected disclosures/whistleblowing and disciplinary matters.

European Court of Justice

Parris -v- Trinity College Dublin & Ors Case C-443/15 – case relating to pension entitlements of civil partners and the interaction of age discrimination and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation (Counsel for the First Named Respondent).

Supreme Court

Quigley -v- Complex Tooling and Moulding Limited [2008] IESC 44 [2009] 1 IR 349 – bullying in the workplace, psychological/psychiatric injury (Junior Counsel for Defendant).

Sheehy -v- Ryan [2008] IESC 14, [2008] 4 IR 258 – wrongful dismissal, employer’s entitlements at common law (Junior Counsel for Defendant).

King & ors -v- Aer Linugs Plc (No 2) [2005] IESC 84, [2005] 4 IR 310 – terms and conditions of employment arising from transfer agreement and whether same were time limited (Junior Counsel for Defendant).

Maha Lingam -v- Health Service Executive [2005] IEHC 186 – employment injunction – mandatory nature of relief – test (Junior Counsel for Applicant)

Morgan -v- Trinity College [2003] IEHC 167 – employment rights, distinction between punitive suspension and holding suspension (Counsel for Defendant).

Court of Appeal

Dillon -v- Catholic University School [2019] IEHC 658 – challenge by way of judicial review to internal school disciplinary process (Junior Counsel for Defendant).

Kearney -v- Byrne Wallace [2017] IEHC 713 – application by employee to restrain by injunction dismissal on grounds of redundancy (Counsel for Defendant).

High Court

Tom has appeared in a significant number of the employment injunction cases heard in the High Court, including the following: –

Whooley -v- MERCK Millipore Limited [2018] IEHC 725.

NM -v- Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board [2017] IEHC588.

Higgins -v- Bank of Ireland [2013] IEHC 6.

Naujoks -v- National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training Limited [2007]18 ELR 25.

O’Brien -v- AON Insurance Managers (Dublin) Limited [2005] IEHC 3.

Yap -v- Children’s University Hospital Temple Street Limited [2006] 4 IR 298.

McEvoy -v- Bank of Ireland [2006] IEHC 3.

Becker -v- Board of Management of St Dominick’s School Cabra [2006] IEHC 130.

Cahill -v- Dublin City University [2007] 19 ELR 113.

Morgan -v- Trinity College [2003] 3 IR 157.

Foley -v- Aer Lingus Group [2001] 12 ELR 193.

Howard -v- University College Cork [2001] 12 ELR 8.

Rooney -v- Kilkenny [2001] ELR 129.

Phelan -v- BIC Ireland Limited [1997] ELR 208.

Vogel -v- Cheeverstown House Limited [1998] 2 IR 496.

O’Malley -v- Aravon School Limited (High Court, 13^th August 1997)

Other High Court  Cases

Ryanair DAC -v- Bellew [2019] IEHC 907 – post employment restraint (Junior Counsel for Defendant).

University College Cork -v- SIPTU [2015] IEHC 282 – trade dispute injunction application – (Junior counsel for Plaintiff)

Dublin Airport Authority Plc -v- SIPTU [2014] IEHC 644  – injunction to restrain trade dispute (Junior Counsel for Plaintiff).

Circuit Court

Dougan -v- Lifeline Ambulance Service, unreported Circuit Court, 29^th July 2016 – application for interim relief pursuant to the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (Counsel for the Applicant).

Employment Appeals Tribunal/Labour Court

Tom regularly appears for employees and employers before the Labour Court and previously did before the EAT.  The following are some examples of the cases before those bodies: –

Opperman -v- MPSTOR & Others, UDD2133, 12^th May 2021 – unfair dismissal Labour Court, substantial compensatory award (Counsel for employee).

Houses of the Oireachtas -v- Thomas Hickey [2019] 6 JIEC 1101 – meaning of “disability” for purposes of Employment Equality Act (Counsel for employer).

Noonan Services Group Limited -v- The Estate of Roseanne Kenny [2019] 5 JIEC 2704 – alternative employment offer in the context of redundancy (Counsel for the estate of the employee)

Malahide Community School -v- Conaty [2018] 6 JIEC 2902 – fixed term contracts, case appealed on two occasions to the High Court and remitted on both occasions to the Labour Court (Counsel for the employer).

Smith -v- Royal Sun Alliance, UD1673/2013 – Employment Appeals Tribunal, 1^st July 2015, award €1.25 Million in respect of unfair dismissal (Counsel for employee)

Strikes: An Essential Guide to Industrial Action and the Law, co-author with the late Dr Mary Redmond, Bloomsbury Professional Dublin, 2010.

Co-author with Brendan Kirwan SC of Chapter “Injunctions” in Employment Law, Murphy & Regan, Bloomsbury Professional Dublin, 2017

In addition to his legal practice Tom is a regular lecturer in the Kings Inns on a number of their Advanced Diplomas and is particularly interested in the development of Mediation as a mechanism for the resolution of employment disputes.  He was recently appointed as a member of the Forum on a Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament.  He is a strong supporter of the Bar’s Master/Devil arrangement and has been Master to twenty Devils