A former Entrepreneur Of The Year finalist has been awarded almost €85,000 in compensation after being forced to resign as chief executive from a company she established, writes Seán McCárthaigh.

Ciara Donlon founded Theya Healthcare to design and produce underwear for post-surgery breast cancer patients a decade ago.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled Ms Donlon was constructively dismissed from her employment with Theya Healthcare after the company had acted “wholly unreasonably”.

It awarded her nine months’ pay for her losses – €67,500 – and said she had been forced to resign after the company failed to pay her salary in September 2024 “with no lawful justification”.

The businesswoman was awarded total compensation of €84,423 due to additional breaches of employment legislation in relation to the payment of wages and failure to provide her with a written contract.

The former finalist in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year competition set up Theya Healthcare in 2015 at UCD’s hub for start-up ventures, NovaUCD, after previously running a lingerie shop in Ranelagh, Dublin.

She outlined how she had founded the company, which manufactures underwear made from bamboo fibre, to support breast cancer patients.

Ms Donlon said Theya was profitable in January 2023 when, she claimed, the company’s liquidation was triggered by an aggressive takeover attempt by two angel investors.

She said she subsequently met the Gallagher family, who own the Viecura group – a medical textile contract manufacturer based in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford – in January 2023 as they had expressed an interest in becoming Theya’s manufacturing partner.

Viecura acquired some of Theya’s key assets, including its trademark and domain name for €5,000, and offered her the role of chief executive officer as well as a 40% shareholding.

Ms Donlon said they began work with Theya Healthcare in June 2023 and the arrangement appeared promising at the outset.

The WRC heard it was agreed she would be paid an annual salary of €90,000 plus expenses – an amount equivalent to her previous package of €110,000.

Ms Donlon said Viecura’s director, Joseph Gallagher, had dismissed the need for her to have a contract after she had raised the issue with him.

She said the Gallagher family owned three factories in China and had assured her Theya’s production would be prioritised.

Ms Donlon said there were persistent delays with products that severely impacted customer relationships and disrupted the sales pipeline.

She claimed she was not allowed to contact factories directly herself and had to rely on the Gallagher family to coordinate manufacturing.

She said she was given vague and evasive responses when she questioned delays, which made managing the business nearly impossible.

She told the WRC she had repeatedly requested access to Theya’s accounts since January 2024 but only received a one-page cost summary in July 2024.

She said that when she challenged a proposal by the company’s owner to terminate its only other employee – a trained nurse who provided customer support – she was threatened that her own salary would be reduced.

When she reviewed the cost figures, Ms Donlon said she was unable to identify the origin of many listed expenses.

The WRC heard a follow-up meeting in late August 2024 was cancelled and tensions escalated the following month when she was not reimbursed with her monthly expenses due to an alleged lack of funds.

She said she had considered resigning then but stayed on out of loyalty to her customers and due to commitments.

She discovered around the same time that Theya’s product liability insurance – essential for supplying the NHS and other customers – was not in place, which Ms Donlon claimed posed compliance and reputational risk.

She said further concern arose when she was asked to sign off the company’s 2023 accounts without ever having been given access to the supporting financial data.

She told the WRC she submitted her formal resignation on September 23, 2024 after being told there were no funds to pay her monthly salary, despite the fact the other employee had her salary paid in full.

The WRC heard Ms Donlon made significant efforts to secure alternative employment after leaving Theya and was pursuing a new entrepreneurial venture.

WRC adjudication officer Breiffni O’Neill said there was no lawful justification nor mutual agreement to suspend or withhold Ms Donlon’s salary.

He said the unilateral failure to pay the wages amounted to a fundamental repudiation by the company of her work contract.

He said Ms Donlon’s resignation was justified and ruled she was constructively dismissed.

He said he had considered directing that Theya Healthcare reinstate her, but decided to award compensation due to the breakdown in trust and confidence between the parties.

No representative of Theya Healthcare attended the hearing.

Photo: Ciara Donlon, founder and former CEO of Theya Healthcare: Pic Tom Honan.