TED1624

The Complainant complained that the Respondent employer infringed section 3(1) of the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 - 2012.

The Law

Section 3(1) of the Act in relevant part states:-

• 3.—(1) An employer shall, not later than 2 months after the commencement of an employee’s employment with the employer, give or cause to be given to the employee a statement in writing containing the following particulars of the terms of the employee’s employment, that is to say—
  (a) the full names of the employer and the employee,
  (b) the address of the employer in the State or, where appropriate, the address of the principal place of the relevant business of the employer in the State or the registered office (within the meaning of theCompanies Act, 1963),
  (c) the place of work or, where there is no fixed or main place of work, a statement specifying that the employee is required or permitted to work at various places,
  (d) the title of the job or nature of the work for which the employee is employed,
  (e) the date of commencement of the employee’s contract of employment,
  (f) in the case of a temporary contract of employment, the expected duration thereof or, if the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the date on which the contract expires,
  (h) the length of the intervals between the times at which remuneration is paid, whether a week, a month or any other interval,

  (i) any terms or conditions relating to hours of work (including overtime),

  (j) any terms or conditions relating to paid leave (other than paid sick leave),

  (k) any terms or conditions relating to—

  (i) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury and paid sick leave, and

  (ii) pensions and pension schemes,

  (l) the period of notice which the employee is required to give and entitled to receive (whether by or under statute or under the terms of the employee’s contract of employment) to determine the employee’s contract of employment or, where this cannot be indicated when the information is given, the method for determining such periods of notice,

  (m) a reference to any collective agreements which directly affect the terms and conditions of the employee’s employment including, where the employer is not a party to such agreements, particulars of the bodies or institutions by whom they were made.

  (2) A statement shall be given to an employee under subsection (1) notwithstanding that the employee’s employment ends before the end of the period within which the statement is required to be given.

  (3) The particulars specified in paragraphs (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) and (l) of the said subsection (1), may be given to the employee in the form of a reference to provisions of statutes or instruments made under statute or of any other laws or of any administrative provisions or collective agreements, governing those particulars which the employee has reasonable opportunities of reading during the course of the employee’s employment or which are reasonably accessible to the employee in some other way.

  (4) A statement furnished by an employer under subsection (1) shall be signed and dated by or on behalf of the employer.

  (5) A copy of the said statement shall be retained by the employer during the period of the employee's employment and for a period of 1 year thereafter.

  (6) (a) The Minister may by order require employers to give or cause to be given to employees within a specified time a statement in writing containing such particulars of the terms of their employment (other than those referred to in subsection (1)) as may be specified in the order and employers shall comply with the provisions of such an order.

  (b) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection, including an order under this paragraph.

  (7) This section (other than subsection (6)) shall not apply or have effect as respects contracts of employment entered into before the commencement of this Act.

The Complainant states that the Respondent did not provide him with a written statement of his terms and conditions of employment when he commenced working for it in October 2013.

Respondent’s Position

The Respondent submits that the Complainant had worked for it on two previous occasions and was familiar with his terms and conditions of employment. It acknowledges that it did not provide him with a fresh statement of his terms and conditions of employment within two months of the commencement of his employment in October 2013. However it submits that he suffered no prejudice as a consequence as he was already familiar with them from the details supplied to him during previous periods of employment.

Discussion

Section 3 of the Act places an obligation on the Respondent to provide the Complainant with a statement of his terms and conditions of employment within two months of the commencement of his employment. It acknowledged that it failed to do so. Accordingly the Court finds that the Respondent infringed section 3 of the Act.

Section 7 of the Act in relevant part states that an Adjudication Officer and on appeal the Labour Court may

• d) order the employer to pay to the employee compensation of such amount (if any) as the adjudication officer considers just and equitable having regard to all of the circumstances, but not exceeding 4 weeks’ remuneration in respect of the employee’s employment calculated in accordance with regulations undersection 17of theUnfair Dismissals Act 1977

Determination

The Complaint is well founded. The Court orders the Respondent to pay the Complainant compensation in the sum of 1 weeks’ pay for the infringement of his rights under section 3 of the Act.

The decision of the Rights Commissioner is set aside.

The Court so determines.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Brendan Hayes
LS______________________
23 August 2016Deputy Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Clodagh O'Reilly, Court Secretary.