ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00014945
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A workshop manager | A construction sub-contractor |
Complaint:
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 | CA-00019509-001 | 30/05/2018 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 05/09/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2014, this complaint was assigned to me by the Director General. On September 5th 2018, I conducted a hearing and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaints.
The complainant attended on his own and was not represented. The respondent did not attend, although he was properly on notice of the time and date of the hearing
Background:
The respondent company was engaged in steel and pipework and one of its major contracts was at the water treatment plant in Ringsend in Dublin. The complainant was the manager of a workshop in Swords and he worked with the respondent from March 1st 2015. On December 21st 2018, all the employees were informed that due to the non-payment of overdue accounts by one of its major customers, the company would cease trading that day. This complaint is about the non-payment of redundancy. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
At the hearing, the complainant said that on December 21st, he was off work to attend his daughter’s Christmas concert. Around 11.30am, he got a phone call from one of his colleagues who told him that the staff had been called to a meeting at which the managing director told them that the company was closing down that day. His colleague informed him that the managing director said he would be in touch with the employees to sort out their redundancy payments and any other money due, but they had no further contact with him and no payments were received. The complainant said that he went to the workshop on December 22nd to collect his belongings and he tried to contact the managing director, but he hasn’t heard from him. After Christmas 2017, the complainant said that an administrator sent him a P45 and in a letter, she said that she would be in touch to sort out redundancy and holiday pay. The complainant received no further information and no redundancy payment, on May 30th 2018, he submitted a complaint to the WRC. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent did not attend the hearing. |
Findings and Conclusions:
Section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 sets out five specific circumstances in which an employee may be entitled to a redundancy payment, the first of which is: “(a) the fact his employer has ceased or intends to cease to carry on the business for the purpose of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed,” As the complainant’s employer has ceased operations in the place where he was employed, his job has become redundant. |
Decision:
Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.
Subject to his PRSI contribution status, I have decided that the complainant is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment, based on his service from March 1st 2015 until December 21st 2017. |
Dated: 6th September 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Key Words:
Redundancy |