LCR22686

1.Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No(s)ADJ-00038920 CA-00051230


BACKGROUND:

2.The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer's Decision under Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 on 8 August 2022. A Labour Court hearing took place on 28 October 2022.






DECISION:

This matter comes before the Court under section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

The Adjudication Officer found that the complaint brought under the Industrial Relations Act is the same claim as already determined under the Payment of Wages Act, 1991. Furthermore, the claim as framed involves workers that are connected to hours or times of work. Accordingly the Adjudication Officer held that he had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Both parties accept that the matter before the Court relates to the temporary reduction in hours or times of work of the Worker.

This matter has been appealed to the Court as a trade dispute and not as a complaint regarding a potential breach of employment legislation. At the hearing the worker’s representative confirmed that the dispute relates to the same set of facts in a separate complaint lodged by the worker under the Payment of Wages Act 1991.

In such circumstances, the Court is being asked to make a recommendation that would denote that the employer had behaved unlawfully in relation to a potential breach of an employment rights legislation. The Court’s jurisdiction in respect of a complaint about a breach of an employment right arises under the relevant employment statute and not under section 13(9) the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

Furthermore, the worker’s representative acknowledges that the matter before the Court is encompassed by an agreement collectively agreed between the Employer and its recognised trade union relating to the lay-off of workers. That agreement applies to all collectively represented grades, including the worker. The worker’s representative contends that the issue arose as an individual issue relating to the worker but acknowledges that the matter became a collective issue applying to a wider body of workers.

Section 13(2) of the Act provides as follows:

• 13(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a trade dispute (other than a dispute connected with rates of pay of, hours or times of work of, or annual holidays of, a body of workers) exists or is apprehended and involves workers within the meaning of Part VI of the Principal Act, a party to the dispute may refer it to a rights commissioner.

For the reasons outlined above, the dispute is not properly before the Court as a complaint under section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

The Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation is upheld.

The Court so Decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Katie Connolly
DC	______________________
28 November 2022	Deputy Chairman