ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00013821

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A retail worker	A wholesaler

Complaint(s):

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-00018213-001	28/03/2018
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 11 of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973	CA-00018213-002	28/03/2018

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 24/10/2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Shay Henry

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and/or Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 - 2014 and/or under Section 11 of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973 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 complaints.

Background:

The respondent closed the business without giving the complainant notice and did not pay redundancy

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The complainant was employed by the respondent from 1 March 2014 until 3 March 2018 when her contract was terminated. She was not given any notice of her redundancy or any redundancy payment or payment in lieu of statutory notice entitlement. She sent an RP77 request to her former employer on 12th March 2018 but did not receive any response.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The respondent was not represented at the hearing and no communication was received relating to the complaints.

Findings and Conclusions:

I am satisfied that the respondent was on notice of the hearing as the company was informed by letter of the hearing on 12th September 2018. In the absence of evidence to the contrary I accept the evidence given at the hearing by the complainant and I find that both complaints are well founded.

Section 4 of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973 states;

(1) An employer shall, in order to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for a period of thirteen weeks or more, give to that employee a minimum period of notice calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.

(2) The minimum notice to be given by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of his employee shall be—

(b) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for two years or more, but less than five years, two weeks,

The complainant is therefore entitled to two weeks’ notice

Decision:

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

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.

Section 11 of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act

The complaint under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act is well founded and I order the respondent to pay the complainant the statutory redundancy payment calculated in accordance with the Act, based on the employment period from 1 March 2014 until 3 March 2018, and based on a weekly wage of €234.87 subject to the complainant having been in insurable employment for the relevant period under the Social Welfare Acts.

The complaint under Section 11 of the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act, 1973 is well founded and I order the respondent to pay the complainant the sum of €469.74 being equivalent to two week’s pay.

Dated: 08/01/19

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Shay Henry

Key Words:

Statutory redundancy entitlement on closure of business and minimum notice entitlement