ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00007581

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Bus Driver	A Bus Company

Representatives

Self Represented

A HR Representative

Complaint(s):

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00009864-001	16/02/2017
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977	CA-00009864-002	16/02/2017
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00009864-003	16/02/2017

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 21/08/2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2015, 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 presented three claims to the WRC under the above Acts for investigation by an Adjudication Officer.

Decision:

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.

Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 also 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 relation to all three claims the Complainant advised in his Complaint form to the WRC that his employment ceased on August 16^th 2017. The Complainant submitted his claim to the WRC on February 16^th 2017. The Company contested the date of termination as presented and stated it was June 2^nd 2017. This difference is not core to my decision.

Section 6 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 states the following

” Subject to subsection 8 an adjudication officer shall not entertain a complaint referred to him or her under this section if it has been presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates“.

Accordingly claim numbers CA-00009864-001 and CA-00009864-003 were submitted out of the timeframe allowed under the Act and I therefore have no jurisdiction to investigate the claims presented and I deem them to be out of time.

Section 8.2 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 states the following;

” A claim for redress under this Act shall be initiated by giving a notice in writing (containing such particulars

(if any) as may be specified in regulations under section 17 of this Act made for the purposes of

subsection (8) of this section) to a rights commissioner or the Tribunal, as the case may be,

within 6 months of the date of the relevant dismissal and a copy of the notice shall be given

to the employer concerned within the same period.”

Accordingly claim number CA-00009864-002 was submitted out of the timeframe allowed under the Act and I therefore have no jurisdiction to investigate the claim presented and I deem it to be out of time.

While the claims were submitted, taking the Complainants date as the date of termination, only one day outside the time limits prescribed by the Act there is substantial case law to show that the timeframe for the submission of claims stopped, in this case, at midnight on August 15^th 2017 and therefore all three claims fall outside this time frame and therefore I have no jurisdiction to investigate the claims.

Dated: 15^th September 2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien

Key Words:

Eligible timeframe for claims