What you need to know
- An Apple employee has appealed an award of damages in his favor after it was ruled he was unfairly dismissed from his job at Apple's Cork Campus.
- Stanislav Ivanov was found to have traces of an explosive substance in his bag at a company Christmas party in 2018.
- Ivanov says he has appealed to clear his reputation and show colleagues he was "not some type of criminal".
A former Apple employee who was dismissed from his job at the company's Cork campus after traces of an explosive substance were found in his bag has appealed an award of damages in his favor in order to clear his reputation.
The Irish Examiner reports that Stanislav Ivanov, formerly a technical support advisor for Apple in Cork, was found to have traces of Tetryl in his bag at a work Christmas party at a local soccer stadium. The substance, used in detonators for explosive devices, was found by security staff in December 2018:
The appellant was dismissed following a disciplinary process after traces of Tetryl, an explosive substance used in detonators, were discovered by Apple security staff carrying out a check on his bag as he entered the company's Christmas party being held in a football stadium in Cork on December 7, 2018.
According to the report, Mr. Ivanov refused to allow staff to search his bag, but subsequent swabs of his workstation and the power button of his work computer turned up positive tests for an "unspecified explosive substance" a few days later. A police search on December 14, 2018, turned up nothing illegal. Ivanov maintained he hadn't had any contact with explosives, and appealed his dismissal to the Workplace Relations Commission in the country, who found in his favor:
In Mr Ivanov's original claim for unfair dismissal, the WRC ruled that security staff had no authority to search his bag without his permission and should have called the gardaí. The WRC said it was "incredible" that Mr Ivanov's workstation and computer were the only locations where traces of the explosive substance were found as they could not be the only touch points he had in Apple's offices.
Apple reportedly did not contest the ruling or an award of 4,500 euros in compensation, however, Mr. Ivanov has appealed this award, preferring instead to have his name cleared:
Stanislav Ivanov, a former technical support advisor with Apple at the company's Holyhill campus in Cork, told a hearing of the Labour Court that he had appealed a ruling in his favor by the Workplace Relations Commission as he wanted former colleagues to see he was "not some type of criminal." "I want to clear my reputation," said Mr. Ivanov.
Mr. Ivanov had reportedly originally sought reinstatement to his post but said he no longer wanted to go back to Apple as the trust between him and the company had been broken. Mr. Ivanov said he had to leave Ireland because he couldn't afford rent or bills after his dismissal and that his social circle of friends and colleagues had "almost disappeared" after his dismissal.
A labor court ruled on Tuesday that the whole case should be reheard in a new hearing on all the facts, adjourning the case to a later date. Apple declined to comment further on the situation.
