DWT1617

• The Complainant was employed by the Respondent construction company as a bricklayer from 14 April 2014 to 13 February 2015 and was paid €13.75 per hour. He was placed on temporary lay-off between December 2014 and February 2015. The Complainant was not furnished with payslips during the currency of his employment but subsequently obtained copy payslips with the assistance of NERA. He submitted those copy payslips to the Court in support of his appeal.

  The Complainant referred three complaints to a Rights Commissioner. The Rights Commissioner convened a hearing on 22 September 2015 which was attended by both the Complainant and Mr Tony Higgins on behalf of the Respondent. The Rights Commissioner issued his decisions on 14 December 2015. The Rights Commissioner upheld each of the three complaints. The Complainant has appealed to this Court in respect of the quantum of the Rights Commissioner’s award in each case. The Complainant’s principal concern is that the Rights Commissioner erred with regard to the duration of his employment with the Respondent.
  The Appellant referred his appeal to the Court on 22 January, 2016. A Labour Court hearing took place on 24th February, 2016. The following is the Determination of the Court:
  
  
  
  
  

The Claimant referred two complaints to the Rights Commissioner under the 1997 Act: one related to underpayment for public holidays; the second related to underpayment for annual leave accrued during his employment.

The Rights Commissioner made an award to the Complainant in respect of two public holidays that fell during the course of his employment. On appeal, the Complainant is seeking payment in respect of a total of eight public holidays that fell during the period of his employment, including those that fell on dates when the Complainant was on temporary lay-off. Having regard to the decision of the High Court inIrish Leathers v Minister for Labour and James Foley[1986] IR 177, this Court is bound to regard the Complainant’s employment contract as having been temporarily suspended with effect from 19 December 2014 until the date on which it was reactivated for the purpose of terminating it in February 2015. Accordingly, the Complainant did not accrue any entitlement to benefits in respect of public holidays that fell during the aforementioned period of lay off. However, the Court has determined that the Complainant is entitled to compensation in respect of three additional public holidays over and above those for which he was compensated by the Rights Commissioner. Therefore, the Court determines that the award under the 1997 Act, in this respect, should be increased to €550.00.

The Rights Commissioner accepted that the Complainant had received payment of €300.00 only from his former employer in respect of accrued annual leave. The Rights Commissioner found that the Complainant had accrued an entitlement to 80 hours’ annual leave entitlement and therefore awarded him €428.64 in respect of the unpaid balance of his entitlement. On the uncontested evidence presented to the Court on appeal, the Court determines that the Complainant had in fact accrued a total entitlement of 87.7 hours’ annual leave the monetary value of which it calculates at €1,206.00. Therefore the monetary value of the balance owed to the Complainant arising from the Respondent’s failure to pay him fully for his accrued annual leave equates to €906.00. This is an egregious breach of the 1997 Act and the Court awards a total of €1,906.00 to the Complainant in compensation for this breach.

The Court so determines.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Alan Haugh
25th February, 2016______________________
CCDeputy Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary.