Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

HGV Driver

Transport Company}

Representatives

Ger Malone, SIPTU

Richard Grogan & Associates

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

CA-00013834-001

08/09/2017

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

CA-00013834-002

08/09/2017

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 28 of the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act, 2005

CA-00013834-003

08/09/2017

The complaints contained in this file were heard in conjunction with the complaints contained in ADJ-00009456. The complainant was employed as a HGV Driver since July 2011 by the respondent who operated a road haulage business. The complainant had raised a number of issues with the respondent regarding his terms and conditions of employment.

Complaint No. CA-00013834-001:

This is a dispute under the Industrial Relations Act, 1969. It was withdrawn at hearing.

Complaint No. CA-00013834-002:

The complainant was notified that he was suspended without pay for 4 weeks on 19 May 2017. The complainant had an accident on 16 May 2017 resulting in him being unfit for work for 10 months. The complainant was not paid for the June Public Holiday.

Complaint No. CA-00013834-003:

The complainant was penalised for raising issues relating to working excessive hours and not getting breaks. The complainant was suspended without pay for 4 weeks.

CA-00013834-001:

Withdrawn at hearing.

CA-00013834-002:

The unpaid suspension ran concurrently with sick leave.

CA-00013834-003:

The complainant was disciplined for failing to complete documentation properly.

CA-00013834-001:

Withdrawn at hearing.

CA-00013834-002:

Section 21 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, states:

(1)    Subject to the provisions of this section, an employee shall, in respect of a public holiday, be entitled to whichever one of the following his or her employer determines, namely –

(a)    a paid day off on that day,

(b)    a paid day off within a month of that day,

(c)     an additional day of annual leave,

(d)    an additional day’s pay.

       (5)   Subsection (1) shall not apply, as respects a particular public holiday, to an employee who is, other than on commencement of this section, absent from work immediately before the public holiday in any of the cases specified in the Third Schedule.

The evidence before me is that the complainant suffered an accident on 16 May 2017 and that as a result was absent due to being unfit for work from that date. The notification of suspension without pay was issued on 19 May 2017 and was stated in the letter to commence on that date. Paragraph 2 of the Third Schedule is to the effect that non-application of Section 21(1) only applies, in the case of an employee absent due to any accident, to absences in excess of 26 weeks prior to the public holiday concerned. I therefore accept that the complainant is due his public holiday entitlement in respect of the June public holiday.

CA-00013834-003:

As states above, these complaints were heard in conjunction with the complaints contained in ADJ-00009456. This complaint is a duplicate of Complaint CA-00012420-005 contained therein and has been adjudicated upon in the decision pertaining to that complaint.

CA-00013834-001:

As this dispute under the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 was withdrawn I am not required to make a recommendation.

CA-00013834-002:

For the reasons outlined above I find this complaint to be well founded and I order the Respondent to pay the complainant the sum of €88.80 in this regard.

CA-00013834-003:

The decision on the same complaint is contained in ADJ-00009456 (CA-00012420-005).