Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Marie  Corbett

Team Weaver Ltd

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

CA-00041914-001

11/01/2021

The Complainant seeks her redundancy lump sum entitlement following the termination of her employment.

The Complainant claims that she was employed by the Respondent for 12 years, commencing on 17 September 2008. She said that she only worked as a cleaner in one particular third-party business, a client of the Respondent. She never worked in any other businesses.

She said that she was paid €842 gross and €687 net fortnightly.

She claims that during the time she worked with the Respondent she only ever met or spoke with the owner a few times in the 12 years.

She said that she was aware that the business where she cleaned was coming to an end and she contacted her employer to ask for information. She said she made numerous requests, by phone and email, but she was not getting any replies in return.

Her place of work closed down on 6 January 2021 and she had nowhere to work and no further instructions from her employer. She has not worked since and her employer has not retuned her calls.

The Respondent did not engage with the process nor attend the hearing.

At the time the adjudication was scheduled to commence, it was apparent that there was no appearance by or on behalf of the Respondent. I verified that the Respondent was on notice of the of the adjudication. I waited some time to accommodate its late arrival, but no one joined the meeting on behalf of the Respondent.

Having taken these steps, I proceeded with the adjudication in the absence of the Respondent. 

General right to redundancy payment.

Section 7 of the Redundancy Payment Act 1967 states the following,

“(1) An employee, if he is dismissed by his employer by reason of redundancy or is laid off or kept on short-time for the minimum period, shall, subject to this Act, be entitled to the payment of moneys which shall be known (and are in this Act referred to) as redundancy payment provided—

(a) he has been employed for the requisite period, and

(b) he was an employed contributor in employment which was insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1966, immediately before the date of the termination of his employment or had ceased to be ordinarily employed in employment which was so insurable in the period of four years ending on that date.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if [ for one or more reasons not related to the employee concerned] the dismissal is attributable wholly or mainly to—

(a) the fact that his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed, or

(b) the fact that the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where he was so employed have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish, or

(c) the fact that his employer has decided to carry on the business with fewer or no employees, whether by requiring the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) to be done by other employees or otherwise, or

(d) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done in a different manner for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained, or

(e) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done by a person who is also capable of doing other work for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained,

(2A) For the purposes of subsection (1), an employee who is dismissed shall be taken not to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if —

(a) the dismissal is one of a number of dismissals that, together, constitute collective redundancies as defined in section 6 of the Protection of Employment Act 1977,

(b) the dismissals concerned were effected on a compulsory basis,

(c) the dismissed employees were, or are to be, replaced, at the same location or elsewhere in the State, (except where the employer has an existing operation with established terms and conditions) by —

(i) other persons who are, or are to be, directly employed by the employer, or

(ii) other persons whose services are, or are to be, provided to that employer in pursuance of other arrangements,

(d) those other persons perform, or are to perform, essentially the same functions as the dismissed employees, and

(e) the terms and conditions of employment of those other persons are, or are to be, materially inferior to those of the dismissed employees.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), an employee shall be taken as having been laid off or kept on short-time for the minimum period if he has been laid off or kept on short-time for a period of four or more consecutive weeks, or for a period of six or more weeks which are not consecutive but which fall within a period of thirteen consecutive weeks.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where an employee who has been serving a period of apprenticeship training with an employer under an apprenticeship agreement is dismissed within one month after the end of that period, that employee shall not, by reason of that dismissal, be entitled to redundancy payment.

(4A) In ascertaining, for the purposes of subsection (2)(c), whether an employer has decided to carry on a business with fewer or no employees, account shall not be taken of the following members of the employer’s family — father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, adopted child, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister.

(5) In this section requisite period means a period of 104 weeks continuous employment (within the meaning of Schedule 3) of the employee by the employer who dismissed him, laid him off or kept him on short-time, but excluding any period of employment with that employer before the employee had attained the age of 16 years.”

Conclusion

The Complainant sought information of her work arrangements from her employer in the months leading up to the impending closure of her place of work, but the Respondent never engaged with her or addressed her concerns.

Based on the uncontested evidence of the Complainant, I find that the Complainant was employed on a continuous basis without a break, for the purpose of the Act, on 17 September 2008 and she worked as a cleaner in a local business for 12 years, which closed down on 6 January 2021. She was paid €421 gross per week.

I find that the Complainant’s employment ended by way of redundancy on 6 January 2021.

I decide that, pursuant to the Redundancy Payment Acts 1967 - 2014, the Complainant’s case is well founded, and the Complainant is entitled to a redundancy lump sum calculated according to the following criteria:

Date of start of employment: 17 September 2008

Date of end of employment: 6 January 2021

Average gross weekly wage: €421

This award is made subject to the Complainant having been in insurable employment under the Social Welfare Acts during the respective period of employment. 

Redundancy Payment Acts - well founded - entitled to a statutory redundancy