ADJ-00034415

Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Martin  Schranz

HSE

Representatives

  Self Represented

 Comyn Kelleher Tobin Solicitors

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00045508-001

03/08/2021

The Complainant alleged he was not paid for hours worked.

The Complainant alleged he was not paid for work done in 2020 and the payment was due on January 31st 2021.

The Respondent denied any wages were properly payable as the Complainant had received all the payments due under his contract of employment or conditions of employment. 

The Respondent has demonstrated compliance with the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act 1991.  

In so far as the Complainant seeks to suggest that he should be paid a sum over and above the annual limit applicable to him for C Factor payments under his Contract and in accordance with the Terms of Settlement availed of by the Complainant, the Respondent urged the Adjudication Officer to:-

(a) decline to uphold the complaints on the basis it has no jurisdiction to determine the complaints;

or in the alternative,

(b) decline to uphold the complains on the merits. 

By way of preliminary objection, the Respondent submitted that pursuant to Section 41(6) of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015, the WRC did not have jurisdiction to entertain the Complaint. 

Section 41(6) provides that, in the absence of reasonable cause for the delay, a complaint which is submitted more than six months from the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates cannot be entertained by an adjudication officer. 

Complaint CA-00045508-001 concerns overtime completed in 2020, which the Complainant alleges should have been paid on 31st January 2021, which is also more than six months previous to the date on which the complaint was lodged, being the 3rd August 2021.

The Law

Section 41(6) and (8) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 (‘the 2015 Act’) provides as follows:-

·         41(6) Subject to subsection (8), an adjudication officer shall not entertain a complaint referred to him or her under this section if it has been presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates.

41(8) An adjudication officer may entertain a complaint or dispute to which this section applies presented or referred to the Director General after the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (6) or (7) (but not later than 6 months after such expiration), as the case may be, if he or she is satisfied that the failure to present the complaint or refer the dispute within that period was due to reasonable cause.

The within claim was presented to the Workplace Relations Commission on August 3rd 2021. No application was made for an extension of time. As the Complainant stated the payment was due on January 31st 2021, the claim was presented out of time and is consequently statue barred.

I find the complaint is statue barred.