ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00023832

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	An Employee	A Construction company

Complaints:

Act	Complaint Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00030073-001	31/07/2019
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 23 of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act, 2015	CA-00030073-002	31/07/2019

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 25/10/2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 following the referral of the complaints to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaints and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The complainant did not attend the hearing.

On the morning of the hearing he telephoned the WRC to say that he could not attend due to a ‘family emergency’. On further inquiry this involved accompanying a family member to a dental appointment.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The respondent was in attendance.

Findings and Conclusions:

A complaint was received by the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission by the complainant alleging breaches of the above statutes.

I am satisfied that the said complainant was sent notice in writing to the address provided on the complaint form of the date, time and place at which the hearing to investigate the complaint would be held.

The said complaint was referred to me for investigation.

There was no appearance by or on behalf of the complainant at the hearing. There is an onus on any party to a complaint, (but in particular a complainant) to attend for a hearing of which they have been given proper notice.

I have considered the explanation submitted by the complainant and I do not consider that it offers sufficient justification to excuse his non-attendance at the hearing.

In these circumstances and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary having been adduced before me, I must conclude that the within complaints are not well-founded and I decide accordingly.

Decision:

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.

For the reasons set out I find that complaints CA-00030073-001 and 002 are not well founded.

Dated: 5th December, 2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady

Key Words:

Non-attendance by complainant.