Yeah it’s worth noting that the employee in this case had the resources to fight. Hopefully other regular non-executive employees can use it as precedent for their own lawsuits.
Not sure how different it is in Ireland, but here in Australia you’d have spoken to the fair work ombudsman and they’d go and “fight” this for you.
Seeing as the article says “Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission” handled this, kinda sounds like a similar situation rather than wealth having anything to do with it.
In America the various states have labor boards, but almost no one knows this and gets taken advantage of.
Last thing an employer wants is a call from the labor board. They default to the employee is always right, burden in on the employer to prove otherwise.