ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00009307
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A housekeeper | A Catholic Parish |
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-00012208-001 | 30/06/2017 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 24/01/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emile Daly
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and/or 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 Complainant worked for 25 years as a housekeeper for three priests who consecutively served the same Ulster parish. Her position was terminated in August 2016 as her services were no longer required. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
1. The Complainant started working as a house keeper for the Respondent in 1991 2. Her work involved cooking and cleaning the parish house 5 days per week 3. In 2007/08 her hours were reduced to facilitate a job share arrangement with another employee 4. This arrangement continued until the end of her employment 5. Her hours of work were 10.5 hours per week, every second week. 6. She was paid €130 gross per fortnight. 7. She received €300 redundancy on termination 8. An amount of €1000.00 that the Complainant received from the penultimate priest for whom she worked was expressed at the time to be a gift and was not spoken of in the context of being a redundancy payment |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
1. The facts are set out by the Complainant are all correct 2. The penultimate priest for whom the Complainant worked paid to the Complainant €1000.00 when he employment was terminated |
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 facts of this case are not in dispute. The Complainant worked for the Respondent for 25 years. It was a happy period of employment for all those involved. The payment of a redundancy sum of €300.00 does not reflect the amount of redundancy that the Complainant was entitled to under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012, given her long years of service. However this sum should be deducted from the sum that is calculated as being payable. The amount of €1000.00 is not to be deducted from the calculation, this is because the uncontested evidence of the Complainant was that this sum was a personal gift from one of the priests for whom she worked. This was to reflect his appreciation for all her years of work. and was not expressed to be a redundancy payment. Having considered the evidence in this case and the redundancy legislation I find that this complaint is well founded and the Complainant is entitled to a redundancy lump sum based on the following: Date of birth: 10 August 1954 Date of Commencement: 1 January 1991 Date of Termination: 30 August 2016 Gross fortnightly pay: €130.00 Gross weekly pay: €65.00
Total amount to be reduced by €300.00 |
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Dated: 4th April 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emile Daly
Key Words:
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