ADJ-00006028

ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00006028

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Parties	A Clerk	A Foundation

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-00007991-001	04/11/2016

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 06/03/2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Rosaleen Glackin

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 from 3^rd January 2011 until 2013 when she again re-joined the Respondent Company. Her employment was terminated by reason of redundancy on 20^th April 2016. The Complainant was paid €2166 per month and she worked 25 hours a week. The Complainant was provided with a written statement of her Terms and Conditions of Employment.

The Complainant referred a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission on 4^th November 2016 alleging she had been unfairly dismissed while on sick leave in April 2016.

Preliminary Issue Time Limits.

Section 8(2) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, as amended provides as follows: A claim for redress under this Act shall be initiated by giving a notice in writing…..(a) within the period of six months beginning on the date of the relevant dismissal, or (b) within such period not exceeding 12 months from the date of the relevant dismissal as the adjudication officer considers appropriate, in circumstances where the adjudication officer is satisfied that the giving of the notice within the period referred to in paragraph (a), was prevented due to reasonable cause”.

This complaint was lodged with the WRC on 4^th November 2016. Therefore the application of Section 8 (2) (a) of the Act provides that the complaint should have been lodged by 19^th October 2016. However Section 8 (2)(b) does allow for an extension of time where the Complainant can show a reason that “prevented” the Complainant from lodging the complaint within the period of 6 months from the date of the dismissal. The Complainant was afforded an opportunity to present her case for an extension of time. The Complainant stated she had been diagnosed with Cancer on 9^th October 2015 and had been absent of sick leave from 27^th October 2015 until 8^th March 2016 when following a meeting with the Respondent she accepted a redundancy package of €3420.00 which she signed on 19^th April 2016 with “I am happy to accept this settlement”. Around this time the Complainant stated that her mother died. She phoned the Respondent on 7^th September 2016 to inform them she wished to return to work, but the Respondent stated there was no job for her as her position was redundant and she had accepted the redundancy payment. The Complainant stated she had been made redundant due to her disability – having cancer. The Complainant has been in receipt of Invalidity Pension from the Department of Social Protection from May 2016. The Complainant confirmed at the Hearing that she is submitting medical certificates to the Department certifying her as unfit for work to date. The Complainant also confirmed at the Hearing that she did not provide the Respondent with any medical certificate in September 2016 that she was fit to resume work.

Decision

I decide not to give an extension of time as the Complainant has not provided any evidence to the Hearing of the reason that prevented her from lodging her complaint from September 7^th 2016 when she informed the Respondent that she wished to return to work to the date the complaint was actually lodged on 4^th November 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(1) (c) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1997 – 2015 I declare this complaint is not well founded as the Complainant was lodged outside the time limit as set down at Section 8(2) (a) of the Act and the Complainant did not satisfy Section 8 (2) (b) of the Act in relation to an extension of time limits.

Dated: 13 June 2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Rosaleen Glackin

Key Words:

Dismissal- Redundancy-Sick Leave