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-00015791-001

14/11/2017

The Complainant was employed as a General Operative from 1999 until he was made redundant on 25th April 2018. He had raised a grievance regarding payment of an allowance prior to his redundancy.   This grievance was not upheld and he now requests adjudication. The Respondent did not attend the hearing and submitted the reason was that the Complainant had signed a full and final settlement waiver at the end of his employment and had received an ex-gratia redundancy payment on 28th April 2018.

The Complainant signed a waiver on 28th April 2018 without the benefit of any advice.   He was not afforded the right to bring a witness, shop steward or union official. The document was read out to him and he was requested to sign.   Significantly the company failed to advise the Complainant adequately or give due regard to the external proceedings nor did management advise him to seek advice. The substantive issue relates to skills and payment for skill blocks.   The Complainant was transferred during downsizing. He was transferred into Packing and later moved back to Making.     He had a trainer qualifier skill which was not recognised as being transferable by the company. He was advised of this by his manager but he subsequently learned that other employees had been moved and the skill recognised. The loss is 5% of base rate and it is argued that the company erred in not recognising the skillset and that the Complainant should be compensated accordingly.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing, but advised the WRC that they had no case to answer as the Complainant had signed a full and final settlement agreement in return for an ex gratia redundancy payment.

The Complainant’s grievance in relation to this matter was considered by the company in December 2016.   It was not upheld, the company stating that it had found at the time of downsizing, the Complainant was transferred into packing and “was paid P5 for the 5 skills he was required to use in packing. On transfer back to making J could not transfer his T&Q skill block as he no longer had that in his skill set pay rate.” The Manager who heard his grievance advised:                                                “On consideration, therefore I do not uphold your grievance as, I believe, the company position on transfer of skill blocks during the downsizing is clear i.e that the Trainer Qualifier skill block did not transfer from Making to Packing and back to Making.”                                                                                      The Complainant submitted his dispute for adjudication in November 2017. Production has ceased in the plant and the Complainant was made redundant along with his colleagues. He was given an ex gratia redundancy payment in return for signing a waiver agreement. I find that the Complainant was obviously aware that he had a claim pending with the WRC. This was a highly unionised plant and I do not find it likely that the complainant was coerced or pressurised to sign. However, as a gesture of good will, and recognising the shortcomings noted by the Company in the grievance report regarding communication with the Complainant during the transfer processes, I recommend that the Company offer the Complainant a token payment of €1,000 to bring this matter to a close.