MND205

1.An appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Decision no ADJ-00006469.

BACKGROUND:

2.The Complainant appealed the Decision of the Adjudication Officerto the Labour Court on 26 June 2018. The Respondent appealed the Decision of the Adjudication Officerto the Labour Court on 27 July 2018. Both appeals werein accordance with the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005. A Labour Court case conference was held on 6 March 2019. A hearing took place on 21 July 2020. The following is the Determination of the Court:

DETERMINATION:

This is a case taken under the terms of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005, ‘the Acts’

Ms. Lally, ‘the Complainant’, is a part owner, with her five siblings, of the company, ‘the Respondent’. She was also an employee. On two occasions in October 2016, she was dismissed by directors of the Respondent. The Complainant made a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission under the Unfair Dismissals Acts and also under the Acts that are the subject of this case.

The Adjudication Officer decided that the Complainant had been dismissed unfairly. As it was a summary dismissal, the terms of the Acts in respect of minimum notice had not been applied. The Adjudication Officer awarded the Complainant her entitlement to statutory minimum notice in the amount of €4,400.

The Respondent appealed both decisions to the Labour Court.

Deliberation and Determination

The only argument put to the Court in respect of the issue of minimum notice was that made by the Respondent to the effect that as the dismissal was not unfair, the terms of the Acts were not applicable. As the Court has determined, in a separate Determination, that the dismissal was unfair, it follows that the Complainant’s right to minimum notice was breached.

The Court upholds the decision of the Adjudication Officer to award €4.400 for this breach under the Acts.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Tom Geraghty
CR	______________________
2 October, 2020	Deputy Chairman