FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 28 (1), ORGANISATION OF WORKING TIME ACT, 1997 PARTIES : KOHINOOR LIMITED (REPRESENTED BY MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES (IRE.) LTD) - AND - HUSSAIN ALI (REPRESENTED BY CHANGIZ DURRANI DIVISION : Chairman: Ms Jenkinson Employer Member: Ms Doyle Worker Member: Mr McCarthy |
1. An appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Decision no r-158537-15/SR.
BACKGROUND:
2. The Worker appealed the Decision of the Adjudication Officer to the Labour Court on the 27th April 2016 in accordance with Section 28(1) of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997. A Labour Court hearing took place on the 14th September 2016. The following is the Decision of the Court.
DETERMINATION:
This is an appeal by Mr Hussain Ali against the Adjudication Officer’s Decision r-158537-wt-15/SR, which rejected his claim under the Organisations of Working Time Act 1997 (“the Act”). Mr Ali submitted a complaint against his former employer, Kohinoor Limited, alleging a breach of Section 23 of the Act. He claimed that he did not receive breaks in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of the Act for the period from 2006 until June 2013. He also complained that he did not receive his outstanding entitlement to annual leave and public holidays in his cesser pay on the termination of his employment on 20thJune 2015. The Adjudication Officer held that the claim was not well-founded.
For ease of reference the parties are given the same designation as they had at first instance. Hence Mr Hussain Ali will be referred to as “the Complainant” and Kohinoor Limited will be referred to as “the Respondent”.
The Complainant was employed by the Respondent as a Chef from 20thNovember 2006 until 20thJune 2015 when he was made redundant. He referred his claim under the Act to the Workplace Relations Commission on 27thJuly 2015 therefore the cognisable period covered by the claim is the six-month period prior to the date of claim, however, as the Complainant’s employment terminated in June 2015, then the cognisable period is from 28thJanuary 2015 until 20thJune 2015. This period spanned two leave years therefore for the purposes of annual leave, the Court will examine the period from
1stApril 2014 until 31stMarch 2015 and the period from 1stApril 2015 until 20thJune 2015.
For the purposes of public holiday entitlements the Court will examine the period from 28thJanuary 2015 until 20thJune 2015.
The claim in respect of break entitlements related to the period from 2006 until June 2013, which is clearly out of time and is therefore statute barred.
Having examined the evidence produced for the Court, it is clear from the payslips and it was not disputed by the Complainant’s representative, Mr Changiz Durrani, that the Complainant was paid 104.47 hours holiday pay on cesser of his employment in June 2015. Furthermore, Mr Durrani told the Court that the Complainant had received four weeks paid leave in August 2014. The payslips show, and it was not in dispute, that the Complainant was paid in respect of the five public holidays which fell in the cognisable period covered by the claim.
In these circumstances, the Court cannot find that the Respondent was in breach of the Act, the Court finds that the Complainant’s complaints under the Act are not well founded and rejects the appeal. Accordingly, the Court upholds the Adjudication Officer’s Decision under the Act.
The Court so Determines.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Caroline Jenkinson
CR______________________
17th October, 2016.Deputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Ciaran Roche, Court Secretary.