Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Security Engineer

Electrical and Security Services Company

Representatives

none 

none 

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-00035359-001

20/03/2020

The Complainant commenced employment as a security engineer with the Respondent on 27 May 2019 and the employment terminated on the 13 March 2020. The Complainant worked a 39-hour week for gross pay of €904.02; net €680.37.   The complainant submits that he never received information on his terms and conditions of employment contrary to the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994.

The Complainant submits that he repeatedly asked for his written terms and conditions of employment but was met with excuses from the Respondent including the assertion that the printer was broken. He submits that a resulting consequence for him, amongst other things, was not knowing his key responsibilities.

The Respondent accepted that he had not furnished the required statutory statement of terms and conditions of employment. He submits that he had thought that the sectoral employment order covering the industry had been enough and that he believed that the Complainant was well versed in its provisions because the Complainant had worked extensively in the industry over a number of years.

The Applicable Law:

The Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 requires that an employer must provide his/her employee with a written statement of the particulars of the employee’s terms and conditions of employment. The relevant law is found at section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994, as amended, (The Act) where the pertinent sections provide as follows:

(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 …

(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,

(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…

… (1A) Without prejudice to subsection (1), an employer shall, not later than 5 days 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 the Companies Act 2014);

(c) 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;

(d) 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;

(e) the number of hours which the employer reasonably expects the employee to work—

(i) per normal working day, and

(ii) per normal working week…

Furthermore, redress in the Act is described as follows at Section 7(2):

A decision of an adjudication officer under section 41of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 in relation to a complaint of a contravention of sections 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 or 6C shall do one or more of the following, namely —

(a) declare that the complaint was or, as the case may be, was not well founded,

(b) either —

(i) confirm all or any of the particulars contained or referred to in any statement furnished by the employer under section 3, 4, 5, 6or 6C, or

(ii) alter or add to any such statement for the purpose of correcting any inaccuracy or omission in the statement and the statement as so altered or added to shall be deemed to have been given to the employee by the employer,

(c) require the employer to give or cause to be given to the employee concerned a written statement containing such particulars as may be specified by the adjudication officer,

(d) in relation to a complaint of a contravention under change section 3 , 4 , 5 , or 6 , and without prejudice to any order made under paragraph (e) order the employer to pay to the employee compensation of such amount (if any) as the adjudication officer considers just and equitable having regard to all of the circumstances, but not exceeding 4 weeks ’ remuneration in respect of the employee ’ s employment calculated in accordance with regulations under section 17 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.

(e) in relation to a complaint of a contravention under section 6C , and without prejudice to any order made under paragraph (d) , order the employer to pay to the employee compensation of such amount (if any) as the adjudication officer considers just and equitable having regard to all of the circumstances, but not exceeding 4 weeks ’ remuneration in respect of the employee ’ s employment calculated in accordance with regulations under section 17of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.

The Complainant submits that he never received a statement of her terms and conditions from the Respondent during the period he was employed. The Respondent gave plausible evidence that he thought a sectoral employment order covered the basics with regards to hours and pay. However, the Respondent admitted that he now knows that he was in breach of the Act. The only question that remains to be decided is the amount of compensation to be paid. The Complainant felt he was discommoded in that he did not receive official written confirmation of his key responsibilities. I am minded of the fact that he was an experienced engineer in his field and though the lack of written terms may have caused him some disquiet, I am not convinced that the transgression by the Respondent in this instance is at the severe end of the scale. It should be emphasised that compensation, if any, must be within the bounds of what is just and equitable having regard to all the circumstances. Having considered all the evidence in this case, I find that the complaint is well founded, and I order the Respondent to pay the Complainant the sum of €904.02, representing one week’s remuneration.

CA-00035359-001: Section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 requires that I make a decision on this complaint. I find that the complaint is well founded, and I order the Respondent to pay the Complainant the sum of €904.02, representing one week’s remuneration.

Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994.