ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00032396
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Noelle Newell | Barbecue, Bbq Restaurant, Trading as The Barbecue Café, Main Stret, Bundoran |
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | Waitress | Restaurant |
Representatives | Siobhan McCormack North Connacht and Ulster Citizens Information Centre | The respondent did not attend and was not represented at the hearing |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 | CA-00043173-001 | 22/03/2021 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 01/06/2021
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emer O'Shea
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and/or Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 - 2014 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).
The respondent did not attend and was not represented at the hearing.I am satisfied that the respondent was duly notified of the date and time of the hearing. The claimant accepted the following amendment to the respondent’s name :
Barbecue , Bbq Restaurant , T/A The Barbecue Café , Main Street , Bundoran.
Background:
The claimant submitted the respondent was in breach of the Act for failing to pay her the correct redundancy payment when her employment was terminated on the 1st.February 2021. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The claimant was employed as a seasonal waitress since 1986 in the respondent’s café/restaurant. Throughout her employment she was not furnished with wage slips and was paid in cash.The claimants representative submitted records from Revenue covering the claimant’s employment from 2002-2019 and advised that she had been in contact with the Dept. of Social Protection, that they were awaiting the claimant’s PRSI records and that on receipt of same they would be making an application to Scope for retrospective PRSI contributions for the missing years. Additionally , the claimant’s representative submitted handwritten confirmation from the respondent that the claimant had worked for her for a period of 11 seasons from March – November – the correspondence was dated the 4th.October 1997- it was submitted that this confirmed that the claimant had worked for the previous 11 years back to 1986..The restaurant closed owing to COVID restrictions in 2020 - the claimant was unsure of the exact date .The claimant was not given notice of the closure and the respondent’s accountant had confirmed that the respondent had ceased trading.It was submitted that the respondent had underestimated the claimant’s entitlement and had failed to take account of the claimant’s employment history dating back to 1986. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent did not attend and was not represented at the hearing. |
Findings and Conclusions:
Having reviewed the submissions and evidence presented at the hearing I find on the basis of the claimant’s uncontested evidence that on the balance of probabilities , the claimant was employed as a seasonal worker with the respondent since 1986.I find the claimant’s employment was terminated by reason of redundancy on the 1st.February 2021.I find the complaint is well founded . |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.
I uphold the complaint and find that the claimant is entitled to statutory redundancy in accordance with her reckonable seasonal service from the 17th.March 1986 to the 1st.February 2021 – subject to the claimant having been in insurable employment for the relevant period under the Social Welfare Acts. |
Dated: July 26th 2021
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emer O'Shea
Key Words:
Redundancy – seasonal worker |