A well known Galway hotel manager is due back in the High Court on Monday to contest his dismissal from a Dublin hotel on Christmas Eve.
John Glynn, the former general manager of Citywest Hotel, is challenging his dismissal from the €250,000 a year post. At a High Court hearing on Monday Mr Justice Roderick Murphy gave Mr Glynn’s lawyers leave to serve short notice on HSS Ltd, trading as Citywest Hotel, of their intention to seek an injunction stopping his purported dismissal.
Mr Glynn has claimed that Sean Whelan, chief executive of the Jim Mansfield group which owns the hotel, was at the centre of efforts to undermine him for some months prior to his dismissal.
In an affidavit, Mr Glynn said Mr Whelan had made a “baseless” complaint related to traffic management for the recent Disney on Ice event so to immediately dismiss him on Christmas Eve. He claims he was not afforded fair procedures and is the victim of a “concerted action” to remove him for reasons of which he is not even sure.
Mr Glynn became general manager of Citywest in 1998 and remained there until 2005 when he left to become manager of the Clayton Hotel in Galway, in which he also invested. He said Jim Mansfield and his wife Anne had in August 2008 persuaded him to return as general manager of Citywest.
In March last year, Mr Mansfield’s son, Jimmy Mansfield, told him Sean Whelan might become a temporary financial consultant to the Mansfield group but would have no input into the day-to-day running of the hotel. The fact Mr Whelan was a “social acquaintance” of Jimmy had a significant bearing on his appointment, Mr Glynn believed.
Mr Whelan set up an office in a room in Citywest and by May had said he had been appointed chief executive of the Mansfield Group by Jim Mansfield. Mr Glynn said Mr Whelan had a “disruptive effect” on the hotel business and had moved personnel without reference to Mr Glynn.
In July, Mr Whelan cut Mr Glynn’s salary by €100,000 but this was temporarily restored following the intervention of Jim Mansfield senior, Mr Glynn said. The salary was cut again to €150,000 in October when Mr Glynn went into hospital, but when he returned to work in November he was told he would receive payment due and got it.
He said a dispute between himself and Mr Whelan relating to traffic management issues at Disney on Ice arose before Christmas and Mr Whelan wrote accusing him of acting unprofessionally and demanded an apology.
Mr Glynn said he discussed the letter with his management team who agreed it was uncalled for. Mr Glynn tore up the letter and returned it to Mr Whelan in that condition in “a moment of weakness”. Jim Mansfield later informed him Mr Whelan was taking legal advice over the letter incident. Three days later, Mr Whelan told him it was agreed he would be immediately dismissed.
Mr Whelan had offered him an alternative job on December 28 as consultant to the hotel on a salary of €50,000 plus 13 per cent of net profit, but Mr Glynn rejected that.
The case is due before the High Court again on Monday.
