Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A facilities manager

A property management 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-00017478-001

16/02/2018

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent company on 05/05/2015, her position was that of Facilities Manager at a third-party location. Things appeared to be going well and the Complainant states that she was happy at her work until around December 2016 when she had to start reporting to a new Country Manager.

The Complainant eventually resigned from the Respondent on 07/07/2017 and lodged a complaint with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on 14/11/2017. This complaint was referred under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A second complaint was received on 16/02/2018 and was referred under section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977.

This specific complaint reads as follows:

“ I had to leave my job due to the conduct of my employer or others at work (Constructive Dismissal). I have at least 12 months service”.

The Complainant failed to attend the scheduled meeting and no correspondence was received in relation to this failure to attend until 13/09/2018.

The Respondent with legal representation were in attendance and prepared to proceed with the hearing.

The first day of hearing this complaint was 22/02/2018 at which all parties attended. The second day of hearing was scheduled for 11/09/2018, the Complainant did not attend and no word was heard from her legal representative until 13/09/2018.

By letter dated 13/09/2018 the Complainant’s solicitor wrote to the WRC apologising for their failure to attend on 11/09/2018, it was there understanding that matters were to be adjourned. This letter goes onto state they were of the understanding that the solicitor for the Respondent company had written to the WRC on 02/08/2018 seeking an adjournment as one of their witnesses was not available on the scheduled date i.e. 11th September 2018. This letter then goes onto state:

“We had thought that we had provided a response to the Respondent’s solicitor and WRC confirming that we had no objection to matters being adjourned, however on review of the file we note there was a genuine oversight and these letters were not sent”.

The letters from the WRC notifying the parties of the hearing arrangements were sent on 01/08/2018.

There is no letter on file dated 02/08/2018 (or any other date) from the Respondent’s solicitor requesting an adjournment in relation to the hearing scheduled for 11/09/2018.

The Respondent’s legal team and witnesses were present as scheduled and quite prepared for the hearing.

Under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 – 2015 a claim for unfair dismissal must be brought to the WRC within 6 months of the date of dismissal, this period may be extended to 12 months in cases where the Adjudication Officer believes that there was reasonable cause. In this instant case, by not attending the hearing the Complainant has not presented any reasonable cause, the complaint is outside the period stipulated in the Act.

The complaint therefore fails for both lack of prosecution and being outside the six months period.

The complaint fails.