ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00026290

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Worker	Entertainment Services

Representatives

The claimant represented herself

Neither the respondent nor the liquidator attended 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-00033494-001	05/01/2020

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 05/02/2021

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).

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The claimant was employed as a General Sales Assistant with the respondent from the 22nd.Dec. 2014 to the 5th.August 2019. The claimant worked 20 hours per week while in college and worked full time during the summer months of June, July & August.The claimant submitted that she was given 3 days notice of being made redundant and was assured by the respondent that all outstanding monies owed including wages , holiday money and redundancy would be paid to her on the 6th.August 2019 – while holiday money and outstanding wages were paid , the claimant was not paid redundancy. She had approached the respondent to complete an RP50 but she submitted that all of her contacts with him were ignored. After making no progress with the respondent she got advice from Citizen’s Information who recommended she lodge a complaint with the WRC for failure to comply with the provisions of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-2014.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

Neither the respondent nor the liquidator attended the hearing .

Findings and Conclusions:

Section 7(2) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967, states:

For the purposes of subsection (1), an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to have been 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 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…

On the basis of the uncontested evidence of the claimant , I find the claimant was made redundant on the 5th.Augst 2019.

Decision:

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 find therefore that the complaint under the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 – 2012 is well-founded and that the complainant is entitled to a redundancy payment based on the following criteria:

Date of Commencement: 22.12.2014

Date of Termination: 05.08.2019

Gross Weekly Pay: €190 per week from December 2014 – August 2019

Save for the summer months of June , July & August 2015, 2016, 2017 , 2018 when her gross pay per week was €380 per week.Her Gross pay per week for June and July 2019 was €380 per week.

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

Dated 11 May 2021

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emer O Shea

Key Words:Redundancy