ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00007226
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | An Accountant | A Hotel |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts | CA-00009761-001 | 17/02/2017 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 24/08/2017
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act and Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969 following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).
Background:
The Complainant was employed from July 18th 2016 to September 9th 2016 as an Accountant and was dismissed while under probation and he claimed the dismissal was unfair as there were no grounds given to him for the dismissal and on procedural terms in how the dismissal was handled. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Complainant advised he was never informed of the reasons for his dismissal, that no disciplinary procedures were followed in terminating him, that he was not told off any issue about his performance, that he was summarily dismissed, that he was not given a chance to address any perceived issues the Respondent had and that he had left a good job to take up this employment. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Complainant was under a contract of employment which stated he was on six months probation and that the contract could be terminated by either party during the probation period without notice. The General Manager had reasons for terminating the employment and he did so lawfully under the contract and the Complainant was paid a months salary on termination which the Respondent did not have to do under the contract. |
Recommendation:
While the Complainant seemed justified in stating that he was not given reasons for his termination and that the process of termination was not in accordance with good performance management processes the overriding issue in this case is that the parties voluntarily entered into a legally binding contract of employment that allowed the Respondent to terminate the contract without notice during the probationary period if they found the Complainant “unsuitable”. Clearly the Respondent came to this decision during the probation period. It is not my role in an industrial relations context to recommend an outcome that seeks to set aside the legally binding contract between the parties and therefore I find that the Complainant was legally dismissed, as he did not advance any arguments at the Hearing which would have stood up to the Unfair Dismissals tests, even with less than one years service as required under that Act, and therefore I recommend that the dismissal decision stands and I see no justification to propose a financial or other award to the Complainant in this case. |
Dated: 12/09/17
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Key Words:
Termination during probation |