TED215

1.An appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Decision No(s)ADJ-00025624 CA-00035406CA-00032406 also referred to as CA-00032406

BACKGROUND:

2.The Employer appealed the Decision of the Adjudication Officer to the Labour Court on 24 September 2020 in accordance with Section 8 (1) of the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts, 1994 to 2014. A Labour Court hearing took place in a virtual setting on 4 March 2021. The following is the Decision of the Court:-

DETERMINATION:

This is an appeal by Acorn Montessori Preschool against Adjudication Officer’s Decision number ADJ-00025624, CA-00032406-001,also referred to as CA-00035406-001 in a complaint made by Ms Ciara Smith against her former employer alleging that she was not provided with a written statement of her terms and conditions of employment in contravention of Section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 - 2014, (the Act).

The Adjudication Officer, in a Decision dated 8th September 2020, found the complaint to be well founded and directed that the Respondent pay the Complainant compensation of €1,200.00.

The parties are referred to in this Determination as they were at first instance. Hence, Ms Ciara Smith is referred to as “the Complainant” and Acorn Montessori Preschool is referred to as “the Respondent”.

The Respondent appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Decision on 24th September 2020.

The Complainant’s commenced employment with the Respondent on 9th September 2019, her employment ceased on 15th November 2019. She worked 40 hours per week and was paid €600.00 per week.

The Respondent stated that on 20th September 2019 a copy of the Complainant’s a contract of employment was placed on the Complainant’s personnel file in a filing cabinet in the office which the Complainant had access to.

Conclusions of the Court

The Respondent accepted that the contract of employment was never given to the Complainant, therefore the Court cannot accept that placing it on the personnel file complies with the requirement of Section 3 of the Act.

Determination

The Court finds the Respondent was in breach of the Act, therefore the Respondent’s appeal fails, and the Court upholds the Decision of the Adjudication Officer and orders the Respondent to pay the Complainant the sum of €1,200.00 within six weeks of the date of this Determination.

The Court so Determines

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Caroline Jenkinson
DC	______________________
8 March 2021	Deputy Chairman