ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00017667

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Worker	A Bakery

Complaint:

Act	Complaint/Dispute 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-00022822-001	23/10/2018

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 31/05/2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Louise Boyle

Procedure:

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

Background:

The complainant detailed she did not receive her annual leave entitlements during 2017 and 2018.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The complainant worked approximately 40 hours per week with the respondent. She did not receive her full annual leave entitlement in 2017 or 2018. She left the employment on 20th July 2018

She contacted the respondent on 23rd August 2018 querying the outstanding monies and they replied on 25th September 2018 looking for further clarification on her query. This clarification was provided to them on 10th October 2018 but she has received no response since then.

The complainant outlined that she does not speak fluent English and had a translator with her at the hearing.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The respondent did not attend. The Respondent did not engage with the Workplace Relations Commission in relation to the complaint. I confirmed that a letter had issued notifying the Respondent of the date, time and location of the hearing, and in the circumstances, I find that their non-attendance without any acceptable explanation to be unexplained in the circumstances.

Findings and Conclusions:

Section 19 of the Act details that an employee should be entitled to annual leave equal to


		(a) 4 working weeks in a leave year in which he or she works at least 1,365 hours (unless it is a leave year in which he or she changes employment),
		(b) one-third of a working week for each month in the leave year in which he or she works at least 117 hours, or
		(c) 8 per cent. of the hours he or she works in a leave year (but subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks):

The respondent did not attend. I am satisfied that the complainant accrued annual leave during her time with the respondent and while she has been paid some of this annual leave it would appear from her evidence that she is entitled to an outstanding annual leave of 41.6 hours during the cognisable period from 24th April 2018 to 23rd October 2018. I note that her employment ceased on 20 July 2018. I find that the claim is well founded. The complainant was paid €9.55 per hour and is owed €397.28.

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.

I find that the claim is well founded and I order the respondent to pay the complainant €397.28.

Dated: 12th June 2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Louise Boyle

Key Words:

Annual leave, respondent did not attend.