Three Romanian builders let go by an engineering contractor days after they took part in a work stoppage at the Intel plant in Co Kildare to protest “racist behaviour” by colleagues have won €30,000 between them for unfair dismissal.The tribunal rejected a claim by the contractor that it had to remove the men from the site without prior warning out of concern they would sabotage production and cost Intel millions of euro.The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) upheld complaints under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 by Stefan Puscasu, Valeriu Buscan and Catalin Mihai against their former employer, Rigotec International Ltd.The men were employed during the construction of Intel’s €17 billion Fab 34 facility in Leixlip starting in 2022 – but found themselves “terminated summarily” and “escorted off the premises” four days after the work stoppage in January 2024, the WRC was told.The company had maintained they were made redundant on the grounds of a downturn in work – an argument rejected by a WRC adjudicator.She was not persuaded by the company’s position that all the men had to be removed immediately from the site for fear they would be so “disgruntled” they would sabotage production – adding that there was an “appalling lack of transparent procedures” when they were dismissed.They had been employed on Rigotec crews installing “gigantic” machines used to produce silicon wafers for microchip manufacturing, said solicitor Andrew Turner of Hamilton Turner, who acted for the men on behalf of their trade union, Unite, at a hearing in January.Rigotec’s barrister, Cillian McGovern BL, instructed by Crushell & Co Solicitors, argued the redundancies were genuine and the result of a downturn in work.He said it was “not in dispute” by Rigotec that two men employed by the company “engaged in racist behaviour towards the complainants” at a meeting on Friday 27 January 2024.Site manager Alan Jennings said one worker had made a “racist remark” at the meeting and received a written warning after admitting to it.McGovern said the second perpetrator “took a large bolt and threw it on the table”, which “ricocheted off the table” and struck a worker in the shoulder.Jennings said the worker who threw the bolt was “dismissed immediately” for “aggressive behaviour” while the man who made the offending remarks received a written warning and was asked to apologise.The man spoke at a meeting on Monday 29 January 2024, but Jennings said: “Certain individuals weren’t impressed with what was perceived as a halfhearted apology,” and the perpetrator was “asked to apologise again”. Jennings said the site’s foreman reported to him that after this, some workers “had downed tools to discuss what went on and they were requested to return to work”.His evidence was that between 10 and 16 people were made redundant four days later that Friday, 2 February 2024, including the “the individual we previously spoke about that made the racist remark”.Jennings said the Intel site was Rigotec’s only work in Ireland. It had 120 on staff at the time of the incident in January 2024, but had halved its headcount within 12 months and is now down to just 30, he said.Jennings’ evidence to the tribunal was that as a contractor on the Intel facility, which was a “live plant”, Rigotec was required to remove any staff from site when ending their employment and pay them in lieu of notice.“The client is fearful of anyone disgruntled wandering around the live chemical facility and maybe pushing buttons,” he said. Ruling their dismissals unfair, adjudication officer Monica Brennan awarded €10,000 each to Puscasu, Buscan, and Mihai.