Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Butcher

A Butcher Shop

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 131 of 2003)

CA-00023482-002

23/11/2018

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 131 of 2003)

CA-00023482-005

23/11/2018

The Complainant is a butcher.  The Respondent is a Butcher Shop owner.  The parties disagree on the date the Complainant started working for the Respondent and when his employment was terminated.  The Complainant was paid €500.00 gross per week. A complaint was lodged with the WRC on 23 November 2018.

The Complainant has lodged two complaints against this Respondent and another nine complaints against another Respondent, which are linked (see ADJ-18308).  The Complainant contends that he was transferred to this Respondent from the Respondent named in the other nine complaints with no regard for the obligations placed on employers under the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations.

The Summaries below are common to both the Complaints which are dealt with further in this Decision.

The Complainant submits that he commenced work in August 2010 with the Respondent as a butcher in Shop A.

In 2014 he was moved to another location, Shop B. He submits that it appears that throughout his employment he was employed by a number of various companies. He was not aware of the change of the employer otherwise by the name of the employer on the P60.

 On July 17th 2018, Shop B was closed and he was transferred back to Shop A. The Complainant submits that there appeared to be a transfer of undertaking to another company at the time. He received new terms and conditions of employment from the new employer on the 16th of August 2018. The date of commencement on that contract was the 19th of July 2018. The Complainant submits that he worked at all times with the same people and under the direction of the same people. Around this time he started to ask about outstanding annual leave entitlements and was told that someone else was responsible for the outstanding wages redundancy and annual leave. This has not been cleared since.

The Complainant submits that following a conversation in July 2018, the Respondent stopped taking his calls and another of the management took over but refused to engage with him on the subject.

The Complainant submits that his hours were reduced to approximately 17 hours in the week commencing the 27th of August 2018, 10 hours in the week commencing the 3rd of September 2018, and zero hours in the week starting 10th of September 2018. The Complainant was on annual leave from the 14^th September 2018.  On his return from holidays he worked the 19^th and 20^th of September 2018.  He had another conversation with his manager about his outstanding pay and entitlements and following this he was not put on the roster for the following week.

The Complainant contends that his employment and entitlements should have transferred with him to the Respondent.  At no point was he informed about a transfer of undertaking.  To date he has not been paid his entitlements.

The Respondent submits that the Complainant started working for him on 19^th July 2018 on a temporary part-time basis in order to cover the summer leave period.

There was no Transfer of Undertaking from the Complainant's previous employer.  When the summer leave period ended there was no longer work for the Complainant and his employment terminated on 14^th September 2018.

I find the Complainant was employed by the Respondent from 19^th July 2018 until 14^th September 2018, as demonstrated by the Complainant's P45s, from the Respondent and his previous employer.  I find no Transfer of Undertakings took place.

CA-00023482-002 Complaint under the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations, 2003.

Decision

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.

The complaint is not well founded.

CA-00023482-005 Complaint under the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations, 2003.

Decision

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.

The complaint is not well founded.