Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Employee

Employer

Representatives

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts

CA-00048285-001

24/01/2022

This matter comes before the WRC on foot of a Workplace Relations Complaint Form dated the 24th of January 2022.

This matter was heard by way of remote hearing pursuant to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and SI 359/2020 which said instrument designates the Workplace Relations Commission as a body empowered to hold remote hearings pursuant to Section 31 of the Principal Act. The said remote hearing was set up and hosted by an appointed member of the WRC administrative staff. I am satisfied that no party was prejudiced by having this hearing conducted remotely.  I am also satisfied that I was in a position to fully exercise my functions and I made all relevant inquiries in the usual way.

In response to the Supreme Court decision in the constitutional case of Zalewski  -v- An Adjudication Officer and the Workplace Relations Commission and Ireland and the Attorney General [2021 ]IESC 24 (delivered on the 6th of April 2021) I can confirm that the within hearing was conducted in accordance with the principles of fair procedures.

As the within matter is a dispute between parties and brought before the WRC using the Industrial Relations Acts it was heard in private and the decision is therefore anonymised.

The Complainant was not represented and made her own case.  I was provided with a comprehensive submission dated the 3rd of August 2022. The Complainant additionally relied on the submission outlined in the Workplace Relations Complaint Form.  I was provided with supplemental documentary evidence in support of the Complainant’s case and heard from the Complainant herself.

The Complainant alleges that she was Unfairly dismissed. AS the Complainant had less than one year of service the Complainant brings her claim under the Industrial relations Act.

Where I deemed it necessary, I made my own inquiries so as to better understand the facts of the case and in fulfilment of my duties as prescribed by Statute. 

The Respondent entity was represented by the General Manager/Director. The Respondent did not provide me with a submission but made representations at the hearing.

The Respondent accepted in the course of the hearing that the termination of this employment was not handled particularly well.

The Respondent witness further confirmed that there were some monies still due and owing arising out of the Complainant’s time in the workplace.

Where I deemed it necessary, I made my own inquiries so as to better understand the facts of the case and in fulfilment of my duties as prescribed by Statute.

I have carefully listened to the evidence adduced by the parties in the course of this hearing.

The Complainant commenced her employment as an Office Manager with the Respondent Company in and around November 2020. I am satisfied that the Complainant was an excellent employee who took on more and more administrative and functional work in the course of this employment. It seems that there the business was running with reduced staff levels making this quite a fraught time.

The Complainant did not receive a Contract of Employment when she started though it appears that she was being remunerated in the amount of €40,000.00 gross as per the agreement already reached between herself and the Director. Three months into the employment the Complainant was looking for a review. This was primarily based on the fact that her roles were ever expanding, and she was doing longer and longer hours. The review was never conducted, but by the end of February 2021 the Complainant’s wage was acknowledged to be €50,000.00 gross and at this point the Complainant was provided with a Contract of Employment.

I could find no evidence to support the contention that the parties intended that there should be a back payment for the previous 12 to 16 weeks, aligning the rate of pay with what she should have been getting paid on a salary of €50,000.00 per annum.

Six or seven months later the Respondent unilaterally reduced the Complainants weekly pay package in line with the original €40,000.00 Gross salary. No satisfactory reason was ever given for this action and nor was the Complainant advised that this was going to happen when it did.

Quite understandably the Complainant was very upset at his perceived unilateral action and communicated her dissatisfaction to management.

On the 6th of October 2021 the Director wrote to the Complainant terminating the employment.

There was no build up to this decision. Certainly, no performance issues had arisen in the course of the employment. The Complainant was taken totally by surprise. It is worth noting that in the course of evidence the Complainant confirmed  that she was not given an opportunity to appeal this decision and was not even allowed to work out her contractual Notice period (of four weeks) or get paid in lieu. The Complainant left the workplace within days.

I have deuced from the evidence that the Complainant’s notice payment should have been in the amount of €3,844.00. The Complainant’s lost Annual Leave entitlement was in the amount of €961.00. The Complainant had had her remuneration reduced for about four weeks with a financial loss of circa €1,000.00. These issues were not raised separately and nor were they specifically articulated in the complaint form.

The Complainant gave evidence of not getting full time employment until September of 2022 though on her own admission she was limiting herself to working in software development and only looking for positions close to her family home. This inevitably limited the opportunities open to her.

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act of 1969 empowers me to make a recommendation which might seem reasonable and appropriate having considered the appropriate investigation into the facts.

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts

CA-00048285-001 - Having already articulated my opinion on the merits of the within dispute, I am recommending that the Respondent pay to the Complainant the sum of €15,000.00 within six weeks of the date of this decision.