Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Andy  Moloney

IQ Pharmatek Ltd trading as Albypharma

Representatives

  Self-Represented

Self-Represented

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-00036008-001

05/05/2020

This matter was heard by way of remote hearing pursuant to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and SI 359/20206, which designates the WRC as a body empowered to hold remote hearings.

The hearing was first heard on 01 June 2021 but did not proceed as the Complainant was unable to log on fully to the remote hearing due to technical difficulties. The Respondent did not attend on 1 June 2021 but both parties were present at the hearing on 27 October 2021.

Both parties were given an opportunity to set out their case and ask questions of each other at the hearing.

Both parties swore an affirmation at the outset of the hearing.

The Complainant gave evidence that he commenced work on 15 March 2017 with the Respondent, he was given notice of redundancy on 16 April 2019 with a termination date of 24 April 2019. This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 5 May 2020.

It was the Complainant’s case that he received the signed PR50 form to the Redundancy Payments Section of Department of Social Protection upon his termination, but it was rejected because it was dated after the period of 12 months. The first page of a RP50 application form was submitted in evidence which is a date stamp from the Department of Social Protection stating it was received on 15 April 2020. A completed Part A Notification of a RP50 Form was submitted which is signed by the Complainant and Respondent but with undated and date stamped by the Department of Social Protection as being received on 22 April 2020. The Complainant also provided correspondence dated 18 April 2020 to the Department which was also date stamped as being received on 22 April 2020, stating that he had been unable to get in contact with the Respondent.  

Correspondence dated 23 April 2020 issued from the Department of Social Protection was also provided by the Complainant which outlined the reasons the RP50 form could not be processed.

The Complainant was asked why the claim was submitted after a period of 12 months from the date of termination , he gave evidence that he was not aware of the time limit. In his written statement to the Workplace Relations Commission, dated 20 September 2021, he stated that he did not follow up on the claim as he thought it had been processed “until I went in search before the 12 months, I tried to contact the factory on a few occasions but it was locked up (letter attached)” The letter he refers to was the letter to the Department of Social Protection dated 18 April 2020 follow the Department’s letter of 15 April 2020.

The CEO of the Respondent explained that he had closed the business at its original location and was out of the country together with the complications of the Covid19 pandemic which as a result he did not receive the correspondence from the Complainant and the Workplace Relations Commission until October 2021.

The Respondent submitted that there was no dispute, that he would require a working week to complete the correct form once he had sought HR advice. He praised the Complainant as a good employee.

Upon inquiry, the Respondent confirmed the case was not in operation, but it was still in existence. He further confirmed it was not in receivership or liquidation.

Preliminary  Issue – Time

It is noted from the file that the Workplace Relations Commission wrote to the Complainant by letter dated 21 August 2020 following receipt of the Complaint Form dated 5 May 2020 noting that it Redundancy Payment Acts 1967 had a statutory time limit of 12 months from the date of the contravention. No submission was received from the Complainant in response to this letter.

The Complainant was given notice of redundancy on 10 April 2019 and his employment was terminated on 24 April 2019. He submitted in evidence at the hearing that he was provided with a copy of the signed RP50 Form from the Respondent upon termination of his employment. Further evidence was given by the Complainant that he was not aware there was a 12 month time limit on claims pursuant to the Redundancy Payments Act 1969 when asked at the hearing and he only became aware of this when the Workplace Relations Commission wrote to him on 21 August 2020.

Section 24 of the Redundancy Payment Act 1967 provides for the time limit for redundancy payment claims:

24.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, an employee shall not be entitled to a lump sum unless before the end of the period of thirty weeks beginning on the date of dismissal or the date of termination of employment—

(a) the payment has been agreed and paid, or

(b) the employee has made a claim for the payment by notice in writing given to the employer, or

(c) a question as to the right of the employee to the payment, or as to the amount of the payment, has been referred to the Tribunal under section 39.

The Complainant waited until the period between 15 to 18 April 2020 to follow up on the redundancy payment with his employer following correspondences from the Department of Social Protection when his date of termination was 24 May 2019. There was a further delay in the submission of the complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission to the 5 May 2020. No reasonable cause  was submitted by the Complainant for the actual cause of the delay. It was only after the Complainant sought to follow up with the Respondent did he run into difficulties in trying to contact a representative from the Respondent.

It is noted that the Respondent has not ceased to be in existence and has agreed to complete the necessary paperwork for the Complainant within a period of 1 week of the hearing date.

In the circumstances where I do not have jurisdiction to hear this claim, I am disallowing the Complainant’s appeal.

Redundancy Payments – Time – Jurisdiction