Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Machine Operator

A Manufacturing Company

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00006986-001

06/09/2016

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00006986-002

06/09/2016

The Complainant submitted two claims to the WRC. One dated September 6th 2016 with no identification of what Act was breached or breach of any employment right. The second claim was submitted on February 2nd 2018 alleging unfair dismissal.

The Complainant was employed from October 6th 2012 to August 8th 2016 when he was dismissed for alleged gross misconduct.

The Complainant submitted a claim form to the WRC on September 6th 2016. In that form he did not identify, in any way, which Act he was making the claim under or what type of employment right he was alleging the Respondent had infringed. The Complainant also did not include an address for communication. The WRC prepared a letter to the Complainant on September 16th 2016 stating the claim form was incomplete and requesting that he submit further details of his claim but it appears this was not sent as the WRC had no postal address for the Complainant. The Complainant submitted a further claim form on February 2nd 2018 which stated he was alleging unfair dismissal and made the claim under the Unfair Dismissals Act.

At the hearing the Respondents Representative made a preliminary point that the first claim was not a valid claim under the Act and the second claim was out of time and that the Adjudicator therefore had no jurisdiction to hear either claim. The Adjudicator asked the Complainant to respond to the preliminary issues and the facts were not disputed and the Complainant gave some personal reasons for the delay in responding. The Adjudicator noted the preliminary issue and advised it would be dealt with in the Adjudicators decision. The submissions on the substantive issue of unfair dismissal were then heard from both sides.

Having considered the preliminary matters raised regarding the Adjudicators jurisdiction the following is the situation.

The Act required a person making a claim under this Act to under Section 8 (2) to do the following

“ A claim for redress under this Act shall be initiated by giving notice in writing (containing such particulars (if any) as may be specified in regulations under Section 12 of this Act made for the purpose of subsection (8) of this section to a Rights Commissioner or the Tribunal as the case may be, within 6 month of the date of the relevant dismissal and

With regard to Claim reference Number CA-00006986-001 the Complainant was dismissed on August 8th 2016 and he did not specify in his claim form, submitted on September 6th 2016, the alleged wrong doing or which Act he was taking the claim under. Therefore, he did not initiate “ by giving notice in writing” any detail of a claim under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977. This lack of clarification did not allow the WRC to complete the second part of the legal requirement for a claim to be valid by “a copy of that notice shall be given to the employer concerned within the same period”. Therefore, claim Reference Number CA-00006986-001 is not a valid claim under the Act and I have no jurisdiction to make a decision on the substantive issue of unfair dismissal and the claim is not well founded accordingly.

With regard to claim reference number CA-00006986-002 the Complainant was dismissed on August 8th 2016 and he submitted a claim form under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 on February 20th 2018, a period of approximately 19 months after his dismissal. A Complainant must give notice of their claim “ to a Rights Commissioner or the Tribunal as the case may be, within 6 month of the date of the relevant dismissal”. As the complaint was not submitted within the time frame allowed by the Act I have no jurisdiction to make a decision on the substantive issue of unfair dismissal as the claim was submitted out of time and is not well founded accordingly.

Both claims fail for the above reasons.

Unfair Dismissal