Ireland: tribunal backs employer over worker who moved to India without approval

Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has dismissed an unfair-dismissal claim brought by an employee who worked from India without his employer’s authorisation, ruling that his refusal to return to his contractual Irish place of work amounted to a resignation. In the adjudication, reported on 19 August 2026, the officer weighed the contractual place of work, the company’s overseas-working policy, and access-card and IP data, and concluded that “hybrid working is not the same as an unrestricted right to work from anywhere”.

Why this matters

For anyone hoping to work abroad unofficially on a domestic contract, this is a clear marker of the limits. Hybrid or remote arrangements do not, by default, confer a right to work from any country you choose – the contractual place of work still governs, and working overseas without sign-off can be treated as a fundamental breach. If you want to work from abroad, get it agreed in writing first: the tax, social-security and now employment-law risks all point the same way.

The ruling adds Irish case-law weight to a pattern we have tracked across Europe, with employers tightening the line between agreed hybrid work and unilateral “work from anywhere”, often driven by permanent-establishment and data-security exposure.

Related reading: my employer said no to working abroad – the PE risk behind it and Ireland’s right to request remote work. General information, not legal advice.