Complainant

Respondent

Parties

William  Corr

Broadreach Investments Bellinter House Hotel

Representatives

Lisa Conroy Peninsula

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00033434-001

29/12/2019

The Complainant commenced his employment as a General Manager with the Respondent, an hotel, on 21 January 2019.  He worked 55 hours per week and was paid €1,442.22 per week. His employment ended on 18 July 2019.  A Complaint Form was lodged with the WRC on 29 December 2019.

The matter was heard by way of remote hearing on 3 November 2021 pursuant to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and S.I. 359/2020, which designated the WRC as a body empowered to hold remote hearings.

The Complainant provided a written submission.

The Complainant submitted that he did not receive any written terms and conditions of employment despite requesting them several times. His employment was terminated with immediate effect on 18 July 2019 without any prior warnings, job chats or appraisals. The Complainant was paid four weeks’ pay in lieu of notice.

In direct evidence at the hearing, the Complainant stated that he asked for his contract on several occasions.

The Respondent provided a written submission.

The Respondent denies they were in breach of the Act and relies on the following to support their case.

The Respondent submitted that the Complainant knew the name and address of his employer as evidenced in his Complaint Form.  The Respondent submits that the Complainant could not reasonably argue that they were unaware of where would be working as they actually worked there. Nor the Respondent contends could the Complainant have been unaware of their job title as they listed it on the Complaint Form and it was in their email signature. The Respondent submits the Complainant gave his start date on the Complaint Form. The Complainant was paid weekly, and he knew this was the case. The Complainant had previously worked as a HR Manager and controlled HR for the Respondent and as such was not only aware of employee paid leave entitlements, he controlled them.

The Respondent submits that any breach of the 1994 Act was technical or minor in nature not justifying an award of compensation.

In concluding the Respondent submitted that the Complainant was issued with extensive documentation which detailed his essential terms and conditions of employment, this was broadly compliant with the requirements of the 1994 Act and which was certainly compliant with the spirit of the 1994 Act. The Complainant never sought further or better particulars of his terms of employment.  That he suffered no detriment throughout his employment and as such his claims do not justify compensation under the Act.

Sec 3 (1) of this Act states:

“An employer shall, not later than 2 months after the commencement of an employee’s employment with the employer, give or cause to be given to the employee a statement in writing containing the following particulars of the terms of the employee’s employment”

From the evidence adduced it is clear the Respondent did not remotely provide a written contract of employment as required under the Act. 

I note that Sec 7 (2) (d) of the Act states, “compensation of such an amount (if any) as is just and equitable having regard to all the circumstances but not exceeding 4 weeks remuneration”.

In this case I believe the award of three weeks remuneration is warranted.

The complaint is well founded, and I award the Complainant €4,326.66

Contract of employment.