Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Welder

Engineering Company

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 11 of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973

CA-00013304-002

24/08/2017

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

CA-00013304-003

24/08/2017

The complaint is in relation to a decision by the respondent to terminate the employment of the complainant on 28 July 2017. The complainant was employed as a welder by the respondent commencing in February 2006 on a gross wage of €617.76 per week.

On 28 July 2017 the complainant was approached by a Director of the respondent and handed an envelope.

The Director informed the complainant that he was being dismissed and that the envelope contained his P45 form.

The complainant was given half an hour to gather his possessions and leave the premises.

The complainant had lodged a claim regarding an injury at work with the Personal Injuries Assessment Board a short time previously.

The management had received information from another employee that he had been assaulted by the complainant on the company premises in September 2016.

The complainant had previously been spoken to by management regarding his aggressive attitude.

The management were concerned about the safety of other employees and decided to dismiss the complainant.

The management also decided that in order to minimise the chance of disruptive behaviour on the part of the complainant they would inform him of his dismissal just before the premises was due to close for summer holidays.

The dismissal was on the grounds of gross misconduct.

These complaints were heard in conjunction with a complaint under the Unfair Dismissal Act 1977 contained in ADJ-12193.

It is clear from the evidence of both parties that the complainant was not dismissed by reason of redundancy.

The evidence given by the directors at the hearing was that they were extremely alarmed and concerned when they were advised by another employee that the complainant had assaulted the employee in the workplace in September of the previous year.  

The employee had reported the assault to the Gardaí. The directors sought confirmation of this from the Gardaí.

The directors also took into consideration the fact that they had reason to speak to the complainant about his aggressive behaviour within the previous two years. It was decided that the complainant’s employment would be terminated on the grounds of gross misconduct and that this would be effected at the end of that week when the workplace was due to close for the annual holidays. Because they were fearful of the reaction of the complainant and they did not want to get into a discussion of the matter it was decided that the complainant would be handed his P45 form just prior to the closure. The complainant was not paid any money in lieu of notice.  

The issue of the justification of the dismissal is dealt with in ADJ-12193 which deals with the complaint under the Unfair Dismissal Act, 1977. That complaint is judged to be well founded and therefore the complainant is due payment under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973.

Section 4 of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973, states:

(1)    An employer shall, in order to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for a period of thirteen weeks or more, give to that employee a minimum period of notice calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.

(2)    The minimum notice to be given by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of his employee shall be –

(d) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for ten years or more, but less than fifteen years, six weeks

The complainant had commenced employment in February 2006 and it was terminated in July 2017.

Complaint No. CA-00013304-02:

This is a complaint under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973. For the reasons given above I find that this complaint is well founded and order the respondent to pay to the complainant the sum of €3,706.56 in respect of same (€617.76 x 6)

Complaint No. CA-00013304-03:

This is a complaint under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012.

From the evidence before me I find that the dismissal of the complainant was not due to redundancy and therefore find that this complaint is not well founded. It therefore fails.