FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 8 (1), TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT (INFORMATION) ACTS, 1994 TO 2014 PARTIES : THE GROSVENOR CLEANING SERVICES UNLIMITED COMPANY (REPRESENTED BY MR ALAN SYNNOTT, STEPHEN MACKENZIE & CO, SOLICITORS) - AND - PAWEL WOJTOWICZ DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Haugh Employer Member: Mr Murphy Worker Member: Ms Tanham |
1. An appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Decision no: ADJ-00005580.
BACKGROUND:
2. This is an appeal under Section 8(1) of the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts, 1994 to 2014. A Labour Court hearing took place on 26 September 2017. The following is the Court's Determination:
DETERMINATION:
This matter came before the Court by way of an appeal brought by Mr Wojtowicz (“the Complainant”) against a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-00005580, dated 2 June 2017). The Notice of Appeal was received by the Court on 22 June 2017. The Court heard the appeal in Cork on 26 September 2017.
The Adjudication Officer directed the Respondent, The Grosvenor Cleaning Services Unlimited Company, to issue to the Complainant “a composite signed document … reflective of all the components of Section 3 of [the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994] within 4 weeks of the date of [her] decision”. The Respondent complied with this direction and issued the Complainant with a written contract of employment on 14 June 2017. This contract was in English. The Respondent subsequently – on 27 June 2017 – sent the Complainant a Polish translation of the contract. The Complainant did not sign either version.
The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent as a cleaning operative on 28 October 2005. It is common case that he was provided with, and signed, a statement of terms and conditions of employment on that date. The Complainant ceased working for the Respondent in February 2006 as he obtained more suitable alternative employment elsewhere. However, when that alternative employment was no longer available, the Complainant reapplied for employment with the Respondent pursuant to a job advertisement placed by the Respondent in 2008.
He commenced his second period of employment with the Respondent on 28 November 2008. He was not given a statement of terms and conditions of employment by the Respondent at that time. It is common case that the Complainant worked for approximately 30 hours per week for a number of months following the commencement of his second period of employment with the Respondent. The Complainant exhibited a payslip that demonstrated this to be the case. However, he said that his hours were subsequently reduced. The Complainant went on long-term sick leave from October 2014. In October 2015, he wrote to the Respondent seeking a written contract of employment. The Respondent furnished him with a copy of the statement of terms and conditions that he had received at the commencement of his initial period of employment with it in October 2005 along with a copy of the Employee Handbook.
Discussion and Decision
The Complainant was employed on two separate occasions by the Respondent. He received and signed a written statement of terms and conditions in respect of his first period of employment only. However, the Respondent was not entitled to assume that it had fulfilled its obligations to the Complainant under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 by relying, in October 2008 and thereafter, on the 2005 statement. The Respondent was required to issue the Complainant with a fresh statement of his terms and conditions in respect of that new and distinct period of employment that commenced in October 2008.
The Court awards the Complainant compensation of four weeks’ remuneration calculated on the basis of a 30-hour week at €9.75 per hour.
The Court so determines.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Alan Haugh
CR______________________
5th October, 2017Deputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Ciaran Roche, Court Secretary.