Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Sinead  Dawson

Camrue Catering Limited Beckets Hotel

Representatives

  self

 Camrue Catering Limited

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

CA-00048916-001

03/03/2022

Prior to the hearing that Respondent employer wrote to the WRC on the 20th of September 2022 and stated that the Complainant was entitled to statutory redundancy and was owed €8596.

At the hearing the Respondent accepted that the Complaint was well founded and stated he would pay the Complainant on or before the 31st of October 2022.

The Complainant wrote to the WRC on or about 31st October 2022 to state that no payment had been received as agreed and promised.

The business closed on the 15th of March 2020 and has not reopened since. 

The Complainant worked as a receptionist  at the hotel.

She commenced employment on the 3rd April 2011

On or about the 1st of October 2021 after the embargo to claim Redundancy was lifted the Complainant served an RP 9 Form on her employer by registered post claiming entitlement to redundancy.

No response was received from the employer and no counter notice was received.

The Complainant was on lay-off since 15th March 2020 and allowing for the embargo on claiming for redundancy while on lay-off could only apply on or about the 1st of October 2021.

On receipt of the complaint before the WRC the Respondent wrote to the WRC and conceded the claim.

The respondent Mr Delaney a director of the company attended the hearing and conceded the claim and accepted that the complaint was well founded and committed to pay the Complainant her statutory entitlement on or before the 31st of October 2022.

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. The employer has accepted that the complaint is well founded.

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 3rd of April 2014.

2.      Contractual termination date allowing for 1 week’s notice 8th October 2021

3.      Date of lay-off 15th of March 2020.

4.      The RP9 Form was served on the employer on or about 1st October 2021

5.      Gross weekly wage €446.93

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 April 1999 to the time of lay-off on the 15th of March 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 the 3rd of April 2011 to the time of lay-off on the 15th of March 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 €446.93

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

The Complaint is well founded.

Statutory Redundancy is calculated as follows:

Number of years’ service: service runs from the date of commencement of employment on the 3rd of April 2011 to the time of lay-off on the 15th March 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 €446.93

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

Layoff-Redundancy