ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00010541
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | An Employee | A Cinema Management Company |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 | CA-00013480-002 | 31/08/2017 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 | CA-00013480-003 | 31/08/2017 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 | CA-00013480-004 | 31/08/2017 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 09/01/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emile Daly
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and/or 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 Respondent ran cinemas in south Ulster and in the north midlands. The Complainant was married to one of the directors of the Respondent. During her marriage, she worked with her husband, assisting in the management of the cinemas. Her husband also ran an architectural practice so his management of the cinemas was not full time. As a result, many responsibilities for the running of the cinema business fell to her along with other staff. Her responsibilities were varied, these included selling tickets, marketing, ordering films, selling tickets, sweeping the floors where necessary. She did this for nearly thirty years. Four years ago, she separated from her husband when he left the marriage and the family home. From then the Complainant ceased to do any day to day work for the company however her employment continued, she was not given a P.45 and she was paid her salary up until June 2017 at which point she received a text from her former husband stating that the payment would stop. She expressed her view at the hearing that she had hoped that her former husband would have attended the hearing out of respect of the years of work that she gave to the business. The business partner of her ex-husband had always led her to believe that she would have been entitled to a share of the business and was very upsetting for her to find out that because the tax affairs of the business were not in order for the first 15 years of her working there, she was not entitled to a pension arising from all those years of employment. Consequently her pension entitlement was limited. She felt that she was completely abandoned in every way, by what had happened. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
Payment of Wages Claim 1991 The Complainant states that her wages were stopped in June 2017 and no reason was given. She was not paid any minimum notice which as an employee for 28 years, she was entitled to. She also was not paid for the last four weeks of her employment. Her net salary per week was €380.00. Terms and Conditions of Employment Act 1994 The Complainant was never furnished with a contract or terms of her employment in writing. Unfair Dismissal Act 1993 – 2015 The Complainant was not given any reason why her work was terminated. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
No appearance. The Respondent’s representative was instructed to say that he would accept and abide by any decision made by the Adjudicator. |
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 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.
CA-00013480-002 Payment of Wages Complaint. I find that this complaint is well founded. As the complaint is uncontested I make the following award of €4720. This encompasses 8 weeks of minimum notice (at a gross salary of €400 per week) and 4 weeks of unpaid wages (at a net salary of €380 per week) CA-00013480-003 Terms and Condition of Employment Complaint. I find that this complaint is well founded as no contract was provided and this complaint is uncontested. I make the following award of €1520.00 (this being four weeks salary) |
CA-00013480-004 Unfair Dismissals Complaint
I find this complaint to be well founded and as the complaint is uncontested, it is accepted that the dismissal occurred as a matter of fact and has not been justified. The Complainant has been in receipt of a pension since November 2017. Therefore her loss from June 2017 (based on a net salary of €380.00 per week) when the dismissal occurred until November 2017 is 5 months. However her loss is not mitigated fully because her pension should be greater than it is. Therefore the loss from the dismissal carries after November 2017. Therefore I make an award for unfair dismissal of €7600.00 for her losses until November 2017 and in respect of her diminished losses from November 2017 until such time as the Complainant may mitigate her loss (a period which I estimate this period to be approximately 6 months ) based on a loss of income per week of €200 per week (taking account of her pension receipts) and therefore I make an award under this heading of €4800.00. The total award for her unfair dismissal complaint is therefore €12,400.00
Awards
CA-0013480 – 002 €4720.00
CA-0013480 – 003 €1520.00
CA-0013480 – 004 €12,400.00
Dated: 16.4.18
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emile Daly