She quit her $44,000 job after being unable to justify 4 minutes of inactivity: “I couldn’t take it anymore”

An Irish court has dismissed a constructive dismissal claim filed by an eBay employee who resigned from her job after being reprimanded for four minutes of inactivity during her workday, according to the Irish Independent.

The employee, who had been with the company for nearly seven years, resigned on March 5 of last year after being informed that an appeals officer had issued her a written warning for “avoiding work.”

According to the warning, the manager testified that on Thursday, December 21, 2024, the woman had resolved a customer issue in one minute and thirty-three seconds, but had left the email window open for several more minutes.

“For email inactivity, anything over 60 seconds is considered work avoidance,” the manager stated.

The employee argued that both the warning for four minutes of inactivity and the “verbal counseling” she had been subjected to in November 2023 for repeated tardiness were retaliation for two complaints she had filed against operations managers shortly beforehand.

She told the court that she simply “forgot to close the email” before stepping away for a break and explained that the eight instances of lateness were due to car troubles and the bus not arriving on time. “That was out of my control — I couldn’t get to work,” she said.

A radical decision

While the judge said he understood her motivations, he questioned why she chose to quit a $44,000-a-year job rather than stand her ground. She responded, “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

She also told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that she was dealing with the loss of several loved ones, using the phrase “people dying everywhere” to describe her emotional state and how overwhelmed she felt.

After reviewing the full case, the court ruled that although the situation had been difficult for the employee, it did not meet the threshold for constructive dismissal, concluding that quitting was not her only option.

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