ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00023256
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A part-time employee | A limited company |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 | CA-00029827-002 | 23/07/2019 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 | CA-00029827-003 | 23/07/2019 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 | CA-00029827-004 | 23/07/2019 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 | CA-00029827-005 | 23/07/2019 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 | CA-00030172-001 | 12/08/2019 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 | CA-00030172-002 | 12/08/2019 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 08/10/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Conor Stokes
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2015following 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 complainant started working with the respondent at the end of June 2017. She performed office duties, also dealing with VAT, wages and the occasional check collection. On June 13, 2019, the complainant received an email from the respondents outsourced accountancy function stating indicating that she had been removed from the payroll. Despite repeated attempts to ascertain her position from the respondent no correspondence was forthcoming and although she received a wage slip for 6 June 2019, the last payment was received by her for the payment period up to 30 May 2019. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The complainant’s case is that she was employed from June 2017 until June 2019 when was informed by the Accountancy firm used by the Respondent that it had been instructed that she was no longer to be included in the wage run. Despite repeated attempts to ascertain her position, she was unable to make contact with the respondent and sought to sign on for social welfare.
She was provided with social welfare payments and accordingly is seeking her unpaid wages, holiday pay, loss of earnings and unpaid notice. Her wages amounted to €300 per week. The complainant supported her claim by providing the wages slips at the hearing covering the duration of her employment. She also provided copies of the emails and registered post that she sent to the respondent and the respondent’s accountants, however she only ever received a response from the accountants indicating simply that they had been instructed to remove her from the payroll. She also brought evidence of trying to mitigate her losses to the hearing. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent did not make any submissions to the WRC nor attend the hearing of these matters. |
Findings and Conclusions:
CA-00029827-002 Having regard to the evidence presented to me, I am satisfied that the complainant did not receive a statement of the terms of her employment. Accordingly, she is entitled to succeed in this element of her complaint. CA-00029827-003 Having regard to the evidence presented to me, I am satisfied that the complainant was not notified of a change to the terms of her employment. Accordingly, she is entitled to succeed in relation to this element of her complaint. CA-00029827-004 Having regard to the evidence presented to me, I am satisfied that the respondent did not pay the complainant the amount due to her when her final payslip was not followed with payment. CA-00029827-005 I am satisfied that the complainant has established that she did not receive her paid holiday/annual leave entitlements and is accordingly entitled to succeed in relation to this aspect of her complaint. CA-00030172-001 Having regard to all the evidence presented to me, I am satisfied that although the complainant did not receive a contract of employment, she has established the existence of an employment relationship in excess of twelve months required by the Unfair Dismissals legislation. I find the manner of the cessation of her employment raises the presumption of a dismissal which is inherently unfair. As no evidence was presented by the respondent to rebut this presumption, the complainant is entitled to succeed in this complaint. It appears that the respondent showed contempt for the employee’s efforts to ascertain her situation following a cessation of employment that was devoid of any process. Accordingly, the complainant is entitled to succeed in relation to this element of her complaint. CA-00030172-002 Having regard to all the evidence presented to me, I am not satisfied that the existence of conditions of redundancy and or insolvency have been established and therefore this element of the claim fails. |
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.
Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the unfair dismissal claim consisting of a grant of redress in accordance with section 7 of the 1977 Act.
CA-00029827-002 Having regard to the issue of the employment contract outlined in my findings and conclusions, my decision is that the complainant did not receive an employment contract, accordingly I award €1200 compensation.
CA-00029827-003 Having regard to the evidence presented to me in relation to a lack of notification regarding the change in the terms of her employment, I award the complainant compensation of €300 compensation.
CA-00029827-004 Having regard to the complainant’s unpaid wages element as outlined in the findings and conclusions, my decision is to award the complainant €300 subject to all lawful deductions.
CA-00029827-005 Having regard to the issue of unpaid paid holiday/annual leave entitlements outlined in the foregoing findings and conclusions, my decision is to award the complainant €1500 compensation in relation to this element.
CA-00030172-001 Having regard to the foregoing findings and conclusions, my decision is that the complainant has established the existence of the Unfair Dismissal element of her complainant and hereby award the complainant €15,430 as compensation for estimated and future loss.
CA-00030172-002 Having regard to the foregoing findings and conclusions, my decision in relation to the Redundancy Payments Act is that no redundancy situation has been established and this element fails. |
Dated: 27-11-2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Conor Stokes
Key Words:
Unfair dismissal, payment of wages, terms of employment, redundancy |