ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00011578

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	An Office Manager	A Construction Company

Complaint:

Act	Complaint Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977	CA-00015510-001	2/Nov/2017

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 18/Apr/2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2015, following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The respondent raises a preliminary point related to jurisdiction.

The complainant has already instituted proceedings in respect of her dismissal which are currently before the Labour Court. The complaint form was exhibited.

The hearing before the Labour Court commenced on December 8th 2017.

As the complainant elected to pursue the case before the Labour Court she is estopped from pursuing it in this forum.

The respondent relies on Section 8 (10) (b) of the Unfair Dismissals Act which states as follows.

(b) An employee shall not be entitled to redress under this Act in respect of a dismissal if, in relation to the dismissal;

(i) a recommendation has been made by a Right Commissioner or an Adjudication Officer under the Industrial Relations Acts 1946-2015

(ii) a hearing by the Labour Court under those acts has commenced.

As the hearing before the Court commenced on December 8th 2017, and has been part heard this removes the complainant’s right to redress under this Act.

In addition, the complaint before the Labour Court was lodged prior to the instant complaint.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The complainant had been employed for three hundred and fifty-four days by the respondent.

She was given notice of the termination but is within the time limits of the Act as a result of the operation of the notice period and annual leave due.

She did not dispute the facts relating to the Labour Court hearing.

Findings and Conclusions:

I find that I have no jurisdiction to hear the complaint.

This is for the reasons set out above in the respondent’s submission in Section 8 (10) (b) of the Unfair Dismissal Act, 1977 and as the matter is before the Labour Court.

Decision:

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.

For the reason set out above I have no jurisdiction to hear complaint CA-00015510-001 and it is dismissed.

Dated: 26th July 2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady

Key Words:

Unfair Dismissal, Parallel proceedings, estoppel.