Complainant

Respondent

Parties

A General Operative

An Electrical and General Business Company 

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-00008723-001

12/12/2016

Complaint    seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7    of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00008723-002

12/12/2016

2:1     Complaint   seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of   the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00008723-001

The Respondent is a Group of linked small to medium   enterprises. The overall business of the Group suffered badly in 2016 from,   among other things, the change in the value of sterling, exacerbated post the   Brexit vote and there was a marked fall off in business from the UK.   Accordingly there was a Redundancy programme across the Group during 2016 and   into 2017. Some 60 employees were made redundant in a phased programme.

The Complainant was one of the staff made redundant as his   position was no longer viable.

The suggestion that there was any linkage to the PI Action   was vigorously denied. It was agreed that local discussions had taken place   regarding a settlement but not in any context of suggesting /not suggesting   redundancy selection.

Documentary evidence was produced of the Redundancy   programme.

The distribution of the Complainant's duties post his   Redundancy were discussed and I was satisfied that no new staff had been   hired as direct replacements.

Any suggestions of Bullying and or Harassment were   vigorously denied. The Complainant had never made any allegations during his   period of employment. The Company has   detailed HR procedures that were available to be utilised.

Accordingly the claim should be dismissed.

2:2     Complaint   seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of   the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00008723-002

The Complainant was issued with a new Contract of   Employment in January 2015. Copy presented in evidence. Any breaches of the Act in regard to the   period from September 2012 to January 2015, which were denied, would only be   technical in nature.

3:1     Complaint   seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of   the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00008723-001

The Respondent Managing Director (Mr XA) and the   Compliance Manager (M.XB) gave considerable oral evidence. It was clear that   a Redundancy programme had existed and that the Complainant had been part of   the phased programme. The programme   had been in operation since early 2016. In November 2016 some 9 employees,   including the Complainant, were made Redundant. The evidence of the Managers   was, I felt, credible.

Considerable oral discussion took place regarding the   issuing or non-issuing of a local settlement proposal regarding medical   expenses and the Personal Injuries action. It was clear that this issue had   had no major or material bearing on the decision to make the Complainant   redundant.

The oral evidence of the Complainant did not suggest that   there was anything amiss in the oral evidence of the Respondent Managers.

Discussions between the parties regarding the Bullying and   alleged Harassment by Supervisor (Mr XC) did not really produce any concrete   evidence or prima facie basis for a   complaint here.

In overall conclusion I came to the view that a genuine   Redundancy had taken place, on economic grounds and that there was no   sustainable basis for an Unfair Dismissal Act, 1977 claim regarding the   ending of the employment.

I refer to Section 6:3 (4) (c) of the Unfair Dismissals   Act, 1977 quoted below.

Extract from the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977   Section 6: 3 (4.)

(4) Without prejudice to the   generality of subsection (1) of this section, the dismissal of an employee   shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, not to be an unfair dismissal,   if it results wholly or mainly from one or more of the following:

( a) the capability, competence or qualifications of   the employee for performing work of the kind which he was employed by the   employer to do,

( b) the conduct of the employee,

( c) the redundancy of the employee, and

( d) the employee being unable to work or continue   to work in the position which he held without contravention (by him or by his   employer) of a duty or restriction imposed by or under any statute or   instrument made under statute.

Accordingly the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977   (CA-00008723-001) claim is dismissed.

3:2     Complaint   seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of   the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00008723-002

It was unclear to me if a formal written contract had   issued in September 2012. Without doubt a formal contract had issued in   January 2015 and was presented in evidence.

The issue of the period from September 2012 to January   2015 was one of assessing probabilities and I felt that the strong   possibility existed of a Technical Breach of the Act during this period.   However no material impact was suffered by the Complainant during this two   year period.

Accordingly I noted a possible Technical breach of the   Act.

However under the provisions of Section 7 :2 (c ) of the   Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 quoted below

[ 7. — Extract   from the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

(2) A decision of an adjudication officer under section 41of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 in relation to   a complaint of a contravention of section   3, 4, 5or 6shall do one or more of the following, namely—

(a) declare that the complaint was or, as the case   may be, was not well founded,

(b) either—

(i) confirm all or any of the particulars   contained or referred to in any statement furnished by the employer under section 3, 4, 5or 6, or

(ii) alter or add to any such statement for the   purpose of correcting any inaccuracy or omission in the statement and the   statement as so altered or added to shall be deemed to have been given to the   employee by the employer,

(c) require the employer to give or cause to be   given to the employee concerned a written statement containing such   particulars as may be specified by the adjudication officer,

I am happy that the contract and Terms issued in January   2015 are satisfactory and direct the attention of the Complainant to this   Contract.

No award of financial compensation is warranted

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Formal Decision /Ref Section 3 of this   Adjudication above for detailed reasoning.

Complaint    seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8    of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00008723-001

Claim Dismissed

Complaint    seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7    of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00008723-002

Claim admitted but   a Breach of a Technical nature only and addressed by Section 7: 2 (c) of the   Act.