ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference:  ADJ-00037337

Parties:

Complaint(s):

Date of Adjudication Hearing:  04/11/2022

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer:  Brian Dalton

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 - 2014following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Background:

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

Findings and Conclusions:

Section 12 of the Redundancy Payment Act 1967 as amended states:

Right to redundancy payment by reason of lay-off or short-time.

12. — (1) An employee shall not be entitled to redundancy payment by reason of having been laid off or kept on short-time unless —

(a) he has been laid off or kept on short time for four or more consecutive weeks or, within a period of thirteen weeks, for a series of six or more weeks of which not more than three were consecutive, and

(b) after the expiry of the relevant period of lay-off or short-time mentioned in paragraph (a) and not later than four weeks after the cessation of the lay-off or short-time, he gives to his employer notice (in this Part referred to as a notice of intention to claim) in writing of his intention to claim redundancy payment in respect of lay-off or short-time.

(2) Where, after the expiry of the relevant period of lay-off or short-time mentioned in subsection (1) ( a ) and not later than four weeks after the cessation of the lay-off or short time, an employee to whom that subsection applies, in lieu of giving to his employer a notice of intention to claim, terminates his contract of employment either by giving him the notice thereby required or, if none is so required, by giving him not less than one week ’ s notice in writing of intention to terminate the contract, the notice so given shall, for the purposes of this Part and of Schedule 2, be deemed to be a notice of intention to claim given in writing to the employer by the employee on the date on which the notice is actually given.

The employee has met the conditions pursuant to section 12 and has notified the employer of her intention to claim redundancy as set out at section 12(2) and subject to 1 weeks’ notice to the employer.

I am satisfied that the complainant is entitled to a redundancy pursuant to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 as amended based on the following facts:

1. Start date 1st of August 2004 as per employees P 60 for 2004 and letter of appointment.
2. Contractual termination date allowing for 1 week’s notice 27th of January 2022.
3. Date of lay-off the 30th of December 2020.
4. The RP9 Form was served on the employer on or about 19th of January 2022
5. Gross weekly wage based on recent payslips €393.75

Reckonable service under the Redundancy Act 1967 as amended is detailed at Schedule 3:

8. During, and only during, the 3-year period ending with the date of termination of employment, none of the following absences shall be allowable as reckonable service —

 (a) absence in excess of 52 consecutive weeks by reason of an occupational accident or disease within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993,

(b) absence in excess of 26 consecutive weeks by reason of any illness not referred to in subparagraph (a),

(c) absence by reason of lay-off by the employer.

During lay-off the absence does not count towards reckonable service as detailed on the Gov.ie site and information on Covid Payments and Redundancy:

Any period spent on Jobseeker's Payments or COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is considered a temporary lay-off. Any period where an employee was laid off is not included as a period of reckonable service when calculating the statutory redundancy payment.

Reckonable service runs from the date of commencement of employment on 1st of August 2004 to the time of lay-off on the 30th December 2020.

The Act at Schedule 3 provides for pro-rata determination of service:

2. If the total amount of reckonable service is not an exact number of years, the “excess” days shall be credited as a proportion of a year.

Statutory Redundancy is calculated as follows:

Number of years’ service: service runs from the date of commencement of employment on 1st of August 2004 to the time of lay-off on the 30th of December 2020.

Weeks due under the scheme:    (2 weeks per year plus 1 bonus week)

Wage ceiling under Scheme:        €600 per week

                Gross weekly wage based on recent payslips €393.75

Statutory redundancy entitlement: weeks x gross weekly wage = weeks x gross weekly wage

I determine that the complainant is entitled to statutory redundancy based on the facts as detailed

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.

Dated:   9th November 2022.

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer:  Brian Dalton

Key Words: