ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00012540
Dispute:
Act | Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 | CA-00016552-001 | 29/12/2017 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 22/06/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Louise Boyle
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969following the referral of the dispute to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the dispute.
Background:
The worker claims that her job title was changed, without her agreement. |
Summary of Worker’s Case:
The worker detailed that she was employed as an Office Manager, as per her contract of employment.
In September 2016 she was advised that her job title was changed from that of Office Manager to that of Senior Office Administrator. The worker sees this as a demotion and outlined that while it has not impacted on her salary, it does impact on her standing within the organisation and her earning potential in the future.
She detailed that she raised it as a grievance but was advised that the changes stood in an official capacity but that she could put ‘Manager’ down on her business cards. She was later told that she could hold on to her ‘Manager’ job title but for some reason this decision was once again changed.
Despite her repeated requests, the employer has refused to engage with her on this. |
Summary of Employer’s Case:
The employer had initially advised that they would attend the hearing but advised two days before the hearing that they would not attend as “this claim has no basis” and “we resolved this issue internally”. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The employer did not attend and advised that the issue was resolved. I note that the employer did not object to the hearing but detailed it was unnecessary. The worker advised on the day that the dispute had not been resolved.
It would appear that it was a decision taken at a corporate level to amend job titles including that of the worker. It is surprising that the employer did not engage with the worker in relation to her dispute. It would appear from the worker’s submission that there is a clear difference in the job title of ‘Office Manager’ and the job title of ‘Senior Office Administrator’.
Based on all of the above, I recommend the following: that the employer compensates the worker with €1,500 due to the unique circumstances of this dispute.
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Decision:
Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.
I recommend the following: that the employer compensates the worker with €1,500 due to the unique circumstances of this dispute.
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Dated: 20/02/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Louise Boyle
Key Words:
Industrial relations, job title, employer did not attend. |