ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00017895

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Fast Food worker	A Fast Food Business

Representatives

Self-Represented but assisted by her sister.

Owner /Manager

Complaint(s):

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-00023079-002	07/11/2018
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00023082-001	07/11/2018
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00023082-002	07/11/2018

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 10/12/2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael McEntee

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).

Background:

The issues in contention concern a claim by a Fast Food worker that she was not paid her ordinary Annual Leave or Public holiday pay due to her when she resigned from the Respondent business in October 2018

1: Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The Complainant resigned from the Respondent business on the 12th October 2018. On leaving she was due Holiday Pay for 2017 and Public Holidays to the date of the Resignation. Efforts to secure the payments have failed.

2: Summary of Respondent’s Case:

As part of the Complainant’s process she had also requested a Workplace Relations Commission investigation of the Respondent business. In the conclusion of this Investigation all the employees (including the Complainant) had signed statements testifying that they had received all their entitlements. A copy was exhibited to the Oral Hearing. The Inspector had given the Respondent a clean bill of health and had no further issues.

In her letter of Resignation, shown to the Hearing, the Complainant had stated

“I confirm that I have received all my statutory entitlements, payslips and wages in full.”

Accordingly, the claim can have no basis and must be dismissed.

3: Findings and Conclusions:

The written evidence produced by the Respondent was compelling. The Complainant accepted that she had signed the documents.

In her case she maintained that she was a foreign national with limited English and had found the entire process with the Inspector and the WRC very intimidating. She had effectively signed the documents under duress.

There was a complete conflict of evidence here between the parties.

It was clear to me that the Complainant’s sister who effectively acted as her advocate in the Hearing was very fluent in all English language issues. She was the Complainant’s “Go to person” and came across as being very competent in all matters.

I found it hard to believe that the Complainant would have signed any documents without the Sister’s approval. The argument of Duress I could not really accept in this context.

Accordingly, I had to accept the Respondent’s version of events. The Documents presented were clear cut and I found his oral evidence credible.

On the basis of the written and oral evidence the claim has to fall.

4: Decision:

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 and Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 require that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions of the cited Acts.

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Summary Decision. Please refer to Section Three above for reasoning.
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00023079-002	Claim dismissed.
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00023082-001	Claim dismissed.
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997	CA-00023082-002	Accepted as a duplicate complaint and withdrawn at the Hearing.

Dated: 30th April 2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael McEntee