ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00008976
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Software Architect | A Software Company |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 | CA-00011664-001 | 31/May/201731/May/2017 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 11/May/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Procedure:
In accordance Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 - 2014 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 Claimant was seeking to be classified as redundant for the purposes of the Act. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Claimant commenced working with XYX Ltd trading as AB in June of 2014 as a full-time employee. His contract of employment was negotiated under English law through their London based office and dated May 22 2014 with employment commencing on 29 June 2014. He complied with all aspects of the contract. He was employed by them for 2 years, 5 months and 10 days. His last official day was 9 December 2016 when his contract terminated on the grounds of redundancy as a result of company closure. Notification of termination was issued on September 9th 2016. At that point he had accrued 6 weeks of untaken leave which was not recouped. He stated that he did not receive any redundancy payment whatsoever. He was paid by means of credit transfer through an Irish intermediary and he received Irish P60s and an Irish P45 as evidence of his tax contributions. He included all payslips that he could find (these usually came in via his company e-mail account to which he no longer has access). He tried several times to contact the company as the company has not been wound up with no response. He also tried to contact the principle shareholder in both France and Ireland but have received no response to any query. He position is that he has upheld his obligations to the company in terms of employment (as evidenced by the contracts and redundancy notice) and the Irish state in respect to his PAYE/PRSI/USC contributions (as evidenced by the P60s for the period and the termination P45). To date, the company has not honoured its obligations with respect to Statutory Redundancy payments, Holiday Pay or Pension Contributions. Moreover, it has not responded to any communication even though it appears to continue to trade. The Claimant is seeking statutory redundancy under the Act. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent originally advised by the Claimant as his employer was notified of a Hearing on October 9th 2017 and at that Hearing, on clarification of the legal name of his employer, the correct legal employer (A non Irish Company) was notified of a Hearing on May 11th 2018 . Neither Respondent appeared at the two Hearings. |
Decision:
Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.
The Complainants contract with the named Respondent is dated May 22nd 2014 and states the following in Section 37 (Governing Law) “Your terms of employment with the Company are governed by the laws of England and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts”. As a result of this clause, the Irish law under which the Complainant is seeking a redundancy payment on termination of his employment is excluded from being considered by virtue of his contract of employment as it is a law of Ireland and not England. The contract specifically includes a clause on termination (Clause 21) and as a result of these two clauses, I deem his claim for redundancy to be not well founded as a result. |
Dated: 7th August 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Key Words:
Claim for redundancy |