UD702/2015

EMPLOYMENT APPEALS TRIBUNAL

CASE NO.

UD702/2015

CLAIM OF:                                                                                                          

Gicu Danut Frant       

   -claimant                

Against

Carrara Construction Limited   

   -respondent

under

UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACTS 1977 TO 2007

I certify that the Tribunal

(Division of Tribunal)

Chairman:       Ms O. Madden B.L.

Members:        Mr J. Horan

                        Mr J. Jordan

heard this claim at Dublin on 19th May 2016

Representation:

_______________

Claimant:         Mr. Marius Marosan, 95 Viking Harbour, Usher's Island, Dublin 8

Respondent:    Mr James MacGuill, MacGuill & Company, Solicitors, 34 Charles Street West, Dublin 7

Preliminary Application

The respondent made the application that the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear this claim as the claimant does not have the service to initiate a claim under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 2007 and secondly that the claim was not lodged within the 6 month time limit as prescribed in the Acts.

The respondent maintains that the claimant commenced employment on the 15^th of April 2013 and his employment ceased on the 4^th of April 2014. The claimant stated that he commenced on the 9^th of April 2013 and ceased employment on the 12^th of March 2015. The claim was lodged with the Tribunal on the 16^th of May 2015.

The claimant gave his evidence with the aid of a translator. The claimant injured his arm on the 7^th of March 2014 and never returned to work. The respondent met with the claimant a few days later and continued to check on him via text. The respondent met the claimant on the 17^th of April 2014 and asked if he would return to work; he did not. The respondent became aware that the claimant was working for other companies when his injury improved.   The claimant’s P45 has a cessation date of the 4^th of April 2014; the claimant did not dispute this date.  

The claimant requested his P45 on a number of occasions. As a result of a personal injuries claim the claimant was taking against the respondent, the respondent was advised not to issue the P45 until the claimant requested it in writing. The respondent produced the bank statements showing a final payment to the claimant on the 4^th of April 2014.

The claimant would have gone back to work when his injury healed but was told by the respondent that he would never work for them again in or around March/April 2014. The claimant accepts that his employment was not terminated but neither did he ask to leave.   The claimant was never asked to return to work. The claimant was fit to return to work in February 2015. The claimant started work with a new company in February 2015 for one week then moved to another company in March 2015 and remains in employment with them. The claimant considers himself ‘let go’ from the cessation date on the P45 of the 4^th of April 2014 even though he only received the P45 a year later.

Determination

On the claimant’s sworn evidence he considers that he was dismissed on the P45 date of 4^th of April 2014 and therefore does not have enough service to take a claim under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 2007. Further the claim received by the Tribunal on the 16^th of May 2015 is outside the prescribed time limit as prescribed in the Acts.

The Tribunal, therefore, rules that it does not have jurisdiction to hear this case on both grounds.

Sealed with the Seal of the

Employment Appeals Tribunal

This   ________________________

(Sgd.) ________________________

     (CHAIRMAN)