ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00014407

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Delivery Driver	A Delivery Business

Complaint:

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991	CA-00018794-001	29/04/2018

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 14/08/2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, this complaint was assignedto me by the Director General. I conducted a hearing on August 14^th 2018 and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard and to present evidence relevant to the complaints.

The complainant was accompanied at the hearing by a friend, but, for the most part, he represented himself. The respondent was represented by Mr Rory Treanor of Peninsula Group and the Founder and Commercial Director of the respondent company attended and gave evidence.

I wish to acknowledge the long delay issuing this decision and I apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused for both parties.

Background:

This complaint was submitted on April 29^th 2018 and it was heard alongside two other complaints submitted on March 30^th and April 5^th 2018 respectively. These were under the Industrial Relations Act and the Unfair Dismissals Act and a decision has been issued in respect of these two complaints under ADJ-00013828.

To enquire into the complainant’s claim that he was unfairly dismissed, I first had to consider his employment status, as the respondent argued that he was employed on a contract for service, and not a contract of service. I concluded that the complainant was not an employee of the respondent and that I had no jurisdiction to hear his complaint of unfair dismissal.

Having reached this conclusion, it follows that I have no jurisdiction to hear this complaint under the Payment of Wages Act 1991.

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.

In complaint reference ADJ-00013838, I concluded that the complainant was not employed by the respondent. For this reason, I decide that I have no jurisdiction to hear this complaint under the Payment of Wages Act 1991.

Dated: 1^st July 2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne

Key Words:

Employment status