The Irish Employment Law Cost of an In-House Marketing Hire That Doesn't Work Out

‍TL;DR: Ending a fractional marketing agreement in Ireland is a contract notice period, typically 30 to 90 days. Ending an in-house marketing employee's contract, even a genuine role redundancy, triggers statutory obligations under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2014 and the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973: a lump sum of two weeks' pay per year of service plus one bonus week, weekly pay capped at €600, and statutory notice ranging from one to eight weeks depending on tenure. Get the process wrong and the exposure runs well beyond that lump sum. This is general information, not legal advice; a solicitor should review any specific termination.

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Every comparison of a fractional marketing agency against an in-house hire for an Irish SaaS startup talks about ramp speed, cost per month, and flexibility. Almost none of them cover what happens legally when the arrangement doesn't work out, which is usually the moment the cost difference becomes real money rather than a spreadsheet assumption.

The two exit paths are not remotely similar

A fractional marketing engagement is a commercial contract between two businesses. Ending it, whether because the fit was wrong or the need changed, is governed by whatever notice period both sides agreed to, commonly 30 to 90 days in agency and fractional agreements. There's no statutory redundancy lump sum, no Workplace Relations Commission exposure, and no unfair dismissal claim risk, because there's no employment relationship to dissolve.

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An in-house marketing hire is an employee under Irish law from day one. Ending that relationship, even for a legitimate reason like the role being restructured or eliminated, runs through statutory machinery that doesn't care how amicable the parting feels.

What Irish redundancy law actually requires

Under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2014, an employee with at least 104 weeks (two years) of continuous service qualifies for a statutory redundancy lump sum. The formula is fixed: two weeks' gross pay for every complete year of service, plus one additional bonus week, with weekly pay capped at €600 regardless of actual salary. A marketing manager earning €70,000 a year, or roughly €1,346 a week, still has the calculation run on the €600 cap. Someone with four years of service would be entitled to (4 × 2) + 1 = 9 weeks at €600, or €5,400, tax-free.

The redundancy also has to be genuine under Irish law: the role itself, not the individual, has to have ceased or diminished. A redundancy used to remove an underperforming employee, rather than because the role genuinely no longer exists, can be challenged at the Workplace Relations Commission as a disguised unfair dismissal, which opens a separate and considerably more expensive claim process under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015.

Where the exposure runs past the statutory lump sum

The statutory numbers above are the floor, not the total likely cost. Most Irish SaaS founders letting go of an early marketing hire aren't dealing with 10 years of service, since the company itself often hasn't existed that long, so the direct statutory lump sum tends to stay modest. The real cost sits elsewhere: legal review to confirm the redundancy is genuine and the selection process was fair, the time a founder or ops lead spends managing the process correctly instead of running the business, and the reputational cost in a market as small as Dublin or Galway, where a badly handled termination travels fast through a tight professional network.

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A WRC claim, even one the company eventually wins, consumes weeks of management time preparing documentation and attending hearings. A claim the company loses can result in compensation awards well beyond the statutory redundancy figure, calculated against the employee's actual loss.

Why the fractional side of the comparison looks different

Ending a fractional marketing engagement carries none of this statutory machinery, because the relationship was never an employment contract. The exposure is contractual and predictable: whatever notice period was negotiated, and whatever handover obligations were written into the agreement. purple path's own model is explicit about being structurally different from an in-house hire on exactly this point: no employment relationship means no redundancy exposure if priorities shift or the engagement needs to change shape.

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This isn't an argument that in-house hiring should be avoided; a mature Irish SaaS company at €20M-plus ARR with a stable marketing function often needs the continuity a permanent hire provides, covered in purple path's guide to scaling an Irish SaaS marketing function. It's a reason to price the real cost of getting an early hire wrong before making it, rather than discovering the statutory and legal cost only once a termination is already underway.

What this means for the actual decision

For a Series A company at €10 to 30M ARR still working out its go-to-market motion, hiring a marketing lead full-time before the function has proven itself concentrates both a mis-hire risk and, if that hire needs to be let go, a legal and administrative cost that a fractional engagement simply doesn't carry. purple path's readiness check for fractional marketing services covers the flip side of this timing question: knowing when a company is actually ready for either model reduces the odds of needing this article's advice in the first place.

What a genuine redundancy process actually requires

Getting the statutory numbers right isn't the same as running a legally sound redundancy process. Irish law requires the redundancy to be genuine, meaning the role itself, not the individual performing it, has to have diminished or disappeared. That means a documented business reason, a fair and consistent selection process if multiple roles are being considered, and a real consultation period with the affected employee before the decision is finalized, not just announced.

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Skipping this process, even when the statutory lump sum is calculated and paid correctly, is one of the most common ways a genuine cost-cutting decision turns into an unfair dismissal claim. An employee who can show the "redundancy" was actually about their individual performance, dressed up in redundancy language to avoid a harder performance-management conversation, has a real basis for a claim regardless of whether the statutory payment was calculated correctly.

Why founders underestimate this specific risk

Many Irish SaaS founders making their first marketing hire have never managed an employment termination before, and the redundancy process feels procedural right up until it isn't. A founder letting an underperforming early hire go, using redundancy language because it feels less confrontational than addressing the performance issue directly, is walking into exactly the scenario Irish employment law is built to catch. The Workplace Relations Commission specifically looks for evidence that the role, not the person, is what actually changed.

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This is worth flagging early, before any termination conversation happens, because the fix is procedural: documenting the actual business reason for the role change, running a fair process, and, where there's any doubt, getting a solicitor's review before the conversation with the employee happens rather than after a claim has already been filed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a probationary period reduce redundancy exposure?

Probation reduces unfair dismissal exposure somewhat, since the Unfair Dismissals Acts generally require 12 months of service before that protection applies, but statutory redundancy has its own separate threshold of 104 weeks of continuous service. An employee let go during probation, for reasons other than genuine redundancy, still needs a fair and documented process to avoid other legal risk.

Is statutory redundancy the same as severance pay?

No. Statutory redundancy is the legal minimum, calculated by formula and tax-free up to certain limits. Many employers offer an enhanced, or ex-gratia, payment above the statutory minimum, which is discretionary unless the employment contract specifies otherwise, and which may carry different tax treatment.

Can a fractional marketing agreement also have exit costs?

Yes, typically limited to the agreed notice period and any handover deliverables specified in the contract. These are commercial terms both parties negotiated upfront, not statutory obligations that apply regardless of what the contract says.

What triggers a Workplace Relations Commission claim?

An employee who believes their redundancy wasn't genuine, or that the selection process was unfair or discriminatory, can bring a claim to the WRC, generally within specific statutory time limits. Claims can also arise from disputes over notice, final pay, or unpaid entitlements.

Does this article apply to contractors as well as employees?

No. This covers employees under Irish employment law. Contractor and consultancy relationships, including most fractional marketing arrangements, are governed by commercial contract law instead, which is one of the structural reasons the cost profiles differ so sharply.

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Understanding the real cost of an in-house hire not working out is part of deciding whether your company is ready for one yet. Talk to purple path about whether fractional support fits your current stage, and always confirm any specific termination scenario with a qualified Irish employment solicitor.