Highland Radio is defending an action for constructive dismissal being taken by former presenter Steven Lynch before an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Yesterday, Lynch – from Carndonagh – alleged that his boss John Clancy had “chipped away” at him until he quit, adding that his wages were cut from an average of €611 per week to €390 after most of his advertising sales clients were taken from him in January 2013, resulting in him leaving the station four weeks later due to being no longer able to financially support his family.
Giving evidence yesterday, Clancy completely denied all the allegations, insisting that he repeatedly tried to encourage Lynch to improve his sales performance, according to newspaper reports.
He said the station’s Inishowen area sales, of which Steven Lynch was in charge, were in “cardiac arrest” and needed to be addressed, with Lynch having rejected a number of reasonable suggestions from him to address the issue.
Clancy said that Lynch would not return his emails for a number of days. He added that his own job was to drive the sales team and that in 2012, when other Irish stations were dropping revenue by 9%, Highland’s had increased by 8.5% – a feat which he described as “unheard of”.
Clancy added that when he heard that Lynch’s father was seriously ill, he gave him time off and didn’t pursue the issue: “I was trying to help him out. I was trying to create a bit of a buzz. All radio stations were finding it difficult but I was offering to help Steven”.
The case has been adjourned until October 6th next.