ADJ-00017437

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Trainee Hairdresser

Hair Salon

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00022563-001

10/10/2018

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

CA-00022563-003

10/10/2018

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts

CA-00022563-004

10/10/2018

The Complainant was employed by the Respondent from 24th October 2017 to 2nd October 2018.   She left her employment after she was reprimanded unfairly, in her view, and after she was excluded from an event other staff attended. She also did not receive a written contract of employment and did not receive her holiday pay when she left the employment.

The Respondent agrees that no contract of employment was given to the Complainant. However, contracts were drawn up for all staff just after she left the job. The Respondent also agrees that some holiday pay was due to the Complainant and calculations were submitted. The Respondent outlined the events which led up to the day the Complainant left her employment without notice.     In summary, the Respondent had to speak to the Complainant about leaving the job earlier than others at a busy time and some complaints were received from staff and customers about the complainant not providing adequate customer service.   Before she got a chance to talk to her the Complainant arrived into the salon and stated that she was leaving and did not work any notice. The event was a special event for staff primarily aimed at Stylists and it was the prerogative of the owner to decide who would go. It is argued that the Complainant did not discharge the onus of proof which was on her to prove that the conduct of the employer was such that she had to leave her job.

CA-00022563-001

It is common case that the Complainant was not furnished with written terms of conditions of employment as provided for in Section 3 of the Act. I find the complaint to be well founded and I require the Respondent to pay to the complainant the sum of €300 compensation.

CA-00022563-002

Based on the evidence and calculations provided by the Respondent I find the complaint that the Complainant did not receive pay in lieu of annual leave accrued on cessation of her employment to be well founded. I require the Respondent to pay to the Complainant the sum of €394.59 which is the monetary value of the leave, together with the sum of €300 compensation for breach of the Act.

CA-00022563-003

The Complainant contends that she was effectively constructively dismissed from her employment when she felt she had to leave due to various events and problems she encountered.   The definition of constructive dismissal in Section 1 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 -2007 is as follows:

“the termination by the employee of his contract of employment with his employer, whether prior notice of the termination was or was not given to the employer, in circumstances in which, because of the conduct of the employer, the employee was or would have been entitled, or it was or would have been reasonable for the employee, to terminate the contract of employment without giving prior notice of the termination to the employer”

There is a heavy onus of proof on the employee to prove that the conduct of the employer was such that it was reasonable for the employee to terminate her own employment without notice. The definition is not intended to provide that at the first sign of trouble the employee is entitled to flee the job and then claim constructive dismissal. Based on the evidence submitted I note that the Respondent was not happy with the Complainant’s performance and attitude and was about to speak to her about this when the Complainant resigned. The Respondent did not act in an open manner by changing / deleting duties for the Complainant without first speaking to her about it. However, I do not find that the employer’s conduct was such that the Complainant could rely on section 1 above and I do not uphold her claim that she was constructively dismissed.