ADJ-00004681

ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00004681

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	An Office Manager	An Office

Complaint

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977	CA-00006728-001	31/08/2016

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 04/07/2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Rosaleen Glackin

Location of Hearing: Lansdowne House, Dublin 4

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2015, and following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Background:

The Complainant was employed as Office Manager from 19^th April 2010 until she terminated the employment on 31^st August 2016. The Complainant was paid €33,000 per annum and she worked 37.5 hours each week. The Complainant referred a complaint to the WRC on 31^st August 2016 alleging she had been unfairly dismissed by reason of constructive dismissal.

Summary of Respondent’s Position

The Respondent did not attend the scheduled hearing

Summary of Complainant’s Position

The Complainant stated that the Respondent approached her in the summer of 2016 seeking that she reduce her hours from full-time to part-time hours because of a downturn in the business. The Complainant stated that there were four employees in the Team, including the Complainant herself and that all had been requested to reduce their hours. The Complainant stated that she had declined to reduce her hours and there followed a discussion regarding her redundancy on 3^rd August 2016. However she stated that due to the financial difficulties in the Company they were not in a position to pay statutory redundancy and the Accountant had confirmed this. The Complainant stated that she gave one months’ notice on 4^th August 2016 on the understanding that she would go and apply for other jobs which she did.

The Complainant stated that she commenced employment on 5^th September 2016 and she is paid €36,000 per annum.

Findings:

Section 1 (1) of the Act under Definitions sets out what is commonly called “constructive dismissal” as follows. (b) the termination by the employee of his contract of employment with his employer, whether prior notice of the termination was or was not given to the employer, in circumstances in which, because of the conduct of the employer, the employee was or would have been entitled, or it was or would have been reasonable for the employee, to terminate the contract of employment without prior notice of the termination to the employer.

There are essentially two tests that an employee can argue in a complaint of constructive dismissal (1) There must be a significant breach of the contract of employment by the employer, which shows that the employer no longer intends to abide by one or more elements of the contract of employment and that in such circumstances the employee was justified in tendering her resignation. (2) The employee must have acted reasonably in tendering her resignation.

The evidence was that that all the employees were requested to reduce their working hours due to the financial difficulties in the Company. The evidence also was that redundancy was discussed with the Respondent and finally agreement reached that while the Complainant was working her notice she was free to apply for other jobs which she did and commenced that new employment on 5^th September 2016. Her employment with the Respondent ended on 31^st August 2016.

Decision:

Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the unfair dismissal claim consisting of a grant of redress in accordance with section 7 of the 1977 Act.

In accordance with Section 8 of the Act and in view of my findings above I declare this complaint is not well founded. The Complainant has not satisfied Section 1 (1) of the Act. Furthermore the Complainant did not suffer any financial loss as set out at Section 7(1) (c) of the Act. The Complainant, on her evidence, had been paid €33,000 per annum while employed with the Respondent up to her date of leaving on 31^st August 2016. She is now in receipt of an annual salary of €36,000 per annum effective from 5^th September 206.