TED1924

The Complainant represented himself at the hearing. It is clear to the Court that the Complainant has a disagreement with the Respondent regarding the grading of his post. He asked the Court to consider the matter under a number of Acts. The Court explained that its jurisdiction is confined to appeals of AO Decisions and that this appeal related solely to the Act. The Court could not consider the wider issues that the Complainant wished to raise and no reference to these is made in this Determination.

Summary of the Complainant’s arguments

The Complainant stated that his duties had changed considerably but that this was not reflected in a revised Job Description and that he did not have a Job Description for his current role.

This situation had created difficulties for him in resolving his issue regarding the appropriate grading of his post.

The AO failed in his Decision to take full account of the significant changes in duties and responsibilities that had occurred since 2000.

Summary of the Respondent’s arguments

The Respondent has met all obligations to the Complainant under the Act.

There have been no changes in the fundamental aspects of the Complainant’s employment as covered by the Act.

It could be argued that a Job Description is not a requirement of the Act. However, a Job Description is in place for the Grade level role and there is a comprehensive Job Description covering the tasks that, in the Complainant’s opinion, his post has evolved into over time, (it was accepted that this Job Description was prepared by the Complainant as part of a job evaluation).

There was no loss or prejudice suffered by the Complainant.

The applicable law

Written statement of terms of employment.

3.— (1) An employer shall, not later than 2 months after the commencement of an employee’s employment with the employer, give or cause to be given to the employee a statement in writing containing the following particulars of the terms of the employee’s employment, that is to say—

(a) the full names of the employer and the employee

(b) the address of the employer in the State or, where appropriate, the address of the principal place of the relevant business of the employer in the State or the registered office (within the meaning of theCompanies Act, 1963

(c) the place of work or, where there is no fixed or main place of work, a statement specifying that the employee is required or permitted to work at various places,

(d) the title of the job or nature of the work for which the employee is employed,

(e) the date of commencement of the employee’s contract of employment,

(f) in the case of a temporary contract of employment, the expected duration thereof or, if the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the date on which the contract expires,

(fa) a reference to any registered employment agreement or employment regulation order which applies to the employee and confirmation of where the employee may obtain a copy of such agreement or order,

(g) the rate or method of calculation of the employee’s remuneration and the pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000

(ga) that the employee may, undersection 23of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, request from the employer a written statement of the employee ’ s average hourly rate of pay for any pay reference period as provided in that section,

(h) the length of the intervals between the times at which remuneration is paid, whether a week, a month or any other interval,

(i) any terms or conditions relating to hours of work (including overtime),

(j) any terms or conditions relating to paid leave (other than paid sick leave),

(k) any terms or conditions relating to—

(i) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury and paid sick leave, and

(ii) pensions and pension schemes,

(l) the period of notice which the employee is required to give and entitled to receive (whether by or under statute or under the terms of the employee’s contract of employment) to determine the employee’s contract of employment or, where this cannot be indicated when the information is given, the method for determining such periods of notice,

(m) a reference to any collective agreements which directly affect the terms and conditions of the employee’s employment including, where the employer is not a party to such agreements, particulars of the bodies or institutions by whom they were made.

(2) A statement shall be given to an employee under subsection (1) notwithstanding that the employee’s employment ends before the end of the period within which the statement is required to be given

(3) The particulars specified inparagraph (d)ofsubsection (1A)orparagraphs (h), (i), (j), (k)and(l)of the saidsubsection (1), may be given to the employee in the form of a reference to provisions of statutes or instruments made under statute or of any other laws or of any administrative provisions or collective agreements, governing those particulars which the employee has reasonable opportunities of reading during the course of the employee’s employment or which are reasonably accessible to the employee in some other way.

(4) A statement furnished by an employer undersubsection (1)shall be signed and dated by or on behalf of the employer.

(5) A copy of the said statement shall be retained by the employer during the period of the employee's employment and for a period of 1 year thereafter.

(6) (a) The Minister may by order require employers to give or cause to be given to employees within a specified time a statement in writing containing such particulars of the terms of their employment (other than those referred to insubsection (1)) as may be specified in the order and employers shall comply with the provisions of such an order.

(b) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection, including an order under this paragraph.

(7) This section (other thansubsection (6)) shall not apply or have effect as respects contracts of employment entered into before the commencement of this Act.

Notification of changes.

5.— (1) Subject tosubsection (2), whenever a change is made or occurs in any of the particulars of the statement furnished by an employer undersection 3,4or6, the employer shall notify the employee in writing of the nature and date of the change as soon as may be thereafter, but not later than—

(a) 1 month after the change takes effect, or

(b) where the change is consequent on the employee being required to work outside the State for a period of more than 1 month, the time of the employee’s departure.

(2)Subsection (1)does not apply in relation to a change occurring in provisions of statutes or instruments made under statute , other than a registered employment agreement or employment regulation order, or of any other laws or of any administrative provisions or collective agreements referred to in the statement given undersection 3or4.

Deliberation

There is no explicit provision in the Act that requires a new Job Description to be given to every employee every time there is a change in their duties. Therefore, there is no basis in the Act that supports the Complainant’s case.

Determination

The Court determines that the Decision of the AO is upheld.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Tom Geraghty
18th October 2019______________________
SCDeputy Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Sharon Cahill, Court Secretary.