ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00042275
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Ann O’Neill | Miriam Fee and Michael Fee Blayney Dry Cleaners |
Representatives | Mallon Solicitors LLP | Did not attend the hearing |
Complaint:
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-00052984-001 | 27/09/2022 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 03/04/2023
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Procedure:
In accordance with section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 - 2014, this complaint was assigned to me by the Director General. I conducted a remote hearing on April 3rd 2023, at which I made enquiries and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard and to present evidence relevant to the complaint. The complainant, Ms Ann O’Neill was represented by Mr Rory O’Neill of Mallon Solicitors LLP. The respondent did not attend the hearing and was not represented.
Background:
Blaney Dry Cleaners the trading name of a business that was owned by Michael and Miriam Fee in Castleblaney, County Monaghan. The registered business number (RBN) is 232769. Ms O’Neill commenced working in the dry cleaners on August 17th 1992. In December 2021, there was a fire in one of the machines in the premises. The business did not re-open after the fire. On March 31st 2022, Ms O’Neill was informed by telephone that the dry cleaners was closing for good and that her job was redundant. She asked about a redundancy payment, but she was told that there was no money to pay her redundancy. This is the reason that Ms O’Neill has brought her complaint to the WRC for adjudication. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
In her evidence at the hearing, Ms O’Neill said that before the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020, she worked 45 hours a week over five days, from 9.00am until 6.00pm. She did the dry-cleaning and pressing of clothes and she also worked at the counter. She was on an hourly rate of €10.00 per hour before any deductions. She said that, in the almost 30 years that she worked in the dry cleaners, she never got a payslip and she was not given a statement of her terms and conditions of employment. Her employment was terminated in a telephone conversation on March 31st 2022. She did not work her notice and she was not paid in lieu of notice. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
On March 29th 2023, on behalf of Miriam and Michael Fee, Dillon Geraghty Solicitors wrote to the WRC. The solicitors informed us that that Blaney Dry Cleaners closed in December 2021 because it was no longer viable and had considerable debts. We were informed that the respondents would not attend the hearing and, although they had no means to discharge any award, they would accept the adjudicator’s decision. |
Findings and Conclusions:
Section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (as amended) sets out five specific circumstances in which an employee may be entitled to a redundancy payment, the first of which is: “(a) the fact his employer has ceased or intends to cease to carry on the business for the purpose of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed[.]” As Ms O’Neill’s employer has ceased operations in the place where she was employed, her job has become redundant. As she has completed more than two years of service, she is entitled to a redundancy payment. At the hearing, Ms O’Neill’s said that her take-home pay was €10 per hour for 45 hours per week. Because she did not receive a payslip, she was unsure what her gross pay was. In March 2022, the national minimum rate of pay was €10.50 per hour, and I must assume therefore, that, as any rate less than the minimum hourly rate of pay is unlawful, that Ms O’Neill’s gross hourly rate of pay was €10.50. I have decided to include Ms O’Neill claim for minimum notice of the termination of her employment with her complaint under the Redundancy Payments Act. Section 4 of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 (as amended) provides that an employee with more than 15 years of service is entitled to eight weeks’ notice of the termination of their employment. Ms O’Neill worked for Blaney Dry Cleaners for almost 30 years. When her employment ended on March 31st 2022, she was entitled to pay in lieu of eight weeks’ notice. |
Decision:
Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint regarding the non-payment of redundancy pay in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act and, section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint related to minimum notice in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
Subject to her PRSI contribution status, and, based on her service from August 17th 1992 until May 27th 2022 and her gross weekly wages of €472.50, I decide that Ms O’Neill is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment I decide also that Ms O’Neill is entitled to eight weeks’ statutory notice of the termination of her employment and, in this regard, I direct the respondent to pay her €3,780, equivalent to eight weeks’ pay. |
Dated: 06-04-2033
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Key Words:
Redundancy, business closure, minimum notice |