Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Construction Operative

A Construction Company

Representatives

  N/A

N/A

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-00036387-001

27/05/2020

The complainant commenced employment with the respondent on 18th April 1997. He was paid a gross wage of €210 per week. His employment terminated by reason on redundancy on 31st January 2020. Given that he did not receive a redundancy payment, he referred a complaint to the WRC on 27th May 2020.

The complainant was informed by the respondent in December 2019 that his employment would terminate by reason of redundancy on 31st January 2020. He did not however receive a redundancy payment which he believed he was entitled to.

The respondent acknowledged that the complainant’s employment terminated by reason of redundancy on 31st January 2020 but stated that he could not afford to pay him his redundancy payment at the time. He claimed that he hoped to make the payment in June 2021

The Applicable Law

The entitlement to a redundancy payment is set out in Section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 which states as follows:

7(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,

Having considered the evidence, it is clear that the complainant’s employment ended by reason of redundancy in line with the provisions of Section 7(2)(c) of the Act.

I allow the Complainant’s appeal and find that he is entitled to a statutory redundancy lump sum under the Redundancy Payment Acts 1967 – 2012 based on the following criteria: 

-          Date of commencement:  18th April 1997

-          Date of termination: 31st January 2020

-          Gross weekly wage: €210

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

Unpaid redundancy;