ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00022460
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Van Sales Man | A Bakery |
Representatives | Self-Represented | No Appearance |
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-00029153-001 | 14/06/2019 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 | CA-00029153-002 | 14/06/2019 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 04/02/2020
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael McEntee
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 and Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 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 the alleged non-payment of Ordinary Wages, Holiday Pay and Notice Pay on the closure of the Employer. |
1: Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Employment ended on the 15th February 2019. The Employees were informed that the Company had gone into Liquidation. The Complainant alleged that he was due Holiday Pay of 9 days, one-week ordinary wages and two weeks’ notice pay. |
2: Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent Employer or the Appointed Liquidator did not attend the Hearing. I was satisfied that proper notice of the date, time and place of the Hearing had been properly served. |
3: Findings and Conclusions:
Allowing for a change in Liquidators from a Galway firm to a Dublin based Insolvency firm I was happy that notice had been served and that the Dublin based firm was aware of the Oral Hearing date. The evidence of the Complainant was that he was due One Weeks Ordinary Pay of € 663.00 Gross 9 Days Holiday Pay of € 1,193.00 Gross Statutory Notice Pay of one week € 663.00 Gross A Contractual Notice Pay of an additional One Week. € 663.00 Gross
The Complainant gave his evidence competently and, in my opinion, truthfully. The non-appearance of the Liquidator was noted.
The issue of the Contractual notice of Two Weeks as against the Statutory Notice of One week was discussed. As the issue was somewhat unclear I decided to confine my Adjudication Decision to the Statutory Week only.
Accordingly, I award under the Payment of Wages Act,1991 the following amounts.
One Weeks Ordinary Pay of € 663.00 Gross 9 Days Holiday Pay of € 1,193.00 Gross Statutory Notice Pay of one week € 663.00 Gross A Total of € 2,519.00 Gross In making this award I was conscious of the fact that the Liquidator was not in attendance and that this decision was one of a number of related cases concerning this Liquidation.
It was my hopeful expectation that the Liquidator was in the process of making all necessary arrangements for former employees with the appropriate Statutory Agencies such as the Department of Social Protection.
None the less this Adjudication decision stands in favour of the Complainant in this individual case. It is enforceable to his benefit.
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4: Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015; Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 and Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions of the cited Acts.
As set out above in Section 3 of this Adjudication I award, under the Payment of Wages Act,1991 the sum of € 2,519 Gross to the Complainant. This being Complaint number CA -00029153-002.
The Complaint number CA-00029153-001 under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 is deemed to be Well Founded. However, no award of compensation is made as this issue has been encompassed in the award for the Payment of Wages Act complaint.
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Dated: 2nd September 2020
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael McEntee
Key Words:
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