A Clondalkin woman who was fired by tech firm Wix because of her posts on social media which were critical of Israel’s role in the conflict in Palestine, has been awarded €35,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Courtney Carey, from Clondalkin, had worked in the Dublin-based tech company for over four years, but was fired last October after calling she described Israel a “terrorist state” and criticised “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza.
Ms Carey, who worked for Wix Online Platforms as a customer care team leader, had written that: “The root cause of this violence is a Zionist ideology which promotes an exclusivist state which denies Palestinian identity it is also an expansionary ideology, promoting illegal settlements on Palestinian land”. She also wrote that she did not support Hamas and condemned “all forms of terrorism”
Her posts were written as a prolonged conflict broke out after the violent incursion by Hamas into Israel on October 7th, in which 1,139 people were murdered including 38 children, while hundreds more were taken hostage.
In a LinkedIn post at the time Ms Carey was fired, Wix president Nir Zohar said that the company had “decided to part ways” with her and that he had been “bombarded with messages from Israeli employees, friends and colleagues from all over the world” about Ms Carey’s posts on social media.
At the WRC hearing last month into her dismissal, Ms Carey said that she felt she was “blacklisted from the tech sector” after being being fired.
“There were multiple tweets, LinkedIn posts, all within that circle regarding me as a person who supports terrorism. I felt it incredibly difficult to have a conversation with people and dispute the claims made about me online.”
“I would have great interviews, conversations with people, and as soon as my previous employment was brought up – [there were] what I would assume to be background checks done on me – every line went cold,” she said.
Through their legal representative Wix told the hearing that the company acknowledged the dismissal was procedurally unfair and that they were attending to discuss compensation. That meant that the hearing focused on the efforts required by Ms Carey to find a new job.
Ms Carey’s solicitor, Barry Crushell, had submitted to the ERC that the “very public nature of [Ms Carey’s] dismissal” had a “very direct impact on her career prospects”.
Ms Carey said that since her dismissal she was unable to pay rent of €1,800 per month for her studio apartment, and had to move in with a family member after losing her apartment.
She said she spent six months without employment and applied for between 50 and 60 vacancies in that time, before finding work on a temporary contract with An Post as a clerk on 20 May this year. This job almost €13,000 less per annum compared with her €40,000-a-year salary at Wix, the tribunal noted.
The Labour Court has previously ruled that a person left out of work by an unfair dismissal “should employ a reasonable amount of time each weekday in seeking work”.
Adjudicating officer for the WRC, Marie Flynn, ruled that the complainant’s case was “well-founded” but also decided that Ms Carey had only produced “sparse” documentary proof of her attempts to find new work in the six months following her dismissal.
She said that Ms Carey had suffered a loss of earnings of €20,000 in the 26 weeks after her dismissal – and that because the complainants salary was now down €236.58 a week gross on what she had earned at Wix, she would suffer a further loss of €18,453.30 by the second anniversary of her dismissal.
“Having regard to all the circumstances of this case, I consider it just and equitable to award compensation to the complainant for her loss arising from her unfair dismissal,” Ms Flynn wrote.
Ms Flynn directed Wix to pay Ms Carey €35,000 in total in compensation. The company has until the middle of August to appeal to the Labour Court.
The Irish Times previously reported that Wix has created an employee group chat to “support Israel’s narrative” on its internal messaging-app Slack. It said employees had been encouraged to “join a company initiative to create videos and creative campaigns” to “make an impact on global perception” of the Israel-Gaza war