ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00043293
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Avril Morrison | Miss LuLu Limited |
Representatives | Not represented | Self-represented |
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-00052972-001 | 26/09/2022 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing:
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. On December 14th 2022, I conducted a hearing regarding a claim for a redundancy payment with two of Ms Morrison’s former colleagues. At that hearing, the respondent, Ms Linda Farrell, agreed that I would consider Ms Morrison’s complaint on the basis of her complaint form and Ms Farrell’s evidence at the earlier hearing. Ms Farrell attended that hearing with a friend, Ms Rita D’Arcy.
While the parties are named in this Decision, from here on, I will refer to Ms Morrison as “the complainant” and to Ms Farrell as “the respondent.”
Background:
The respondent’s business traded as O’Brien’s Bagel Factory in the Square Shopping Centre in Tallaght. In December 2017, the complainant commenced working there as a catering assistant. She worked 30 hrs a week and her weekly pay was €350. Due to the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020, the café closed on March 16th and the employees were sent home. The café did not re-open and is no longer trading. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
In March 2020, the café where the complainant worked was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In August 2020, she and her colleagues met the proprietor, Ms Farrell, who told them that she wasn’t going to open the café again, that the business would go into liquidation and that she would be in touch with them about their redundancy pay. The café remained closed and, in August 2021, when the complainant didn’t hear anything further from the respondent, she and her colleagues contacted the office of the Revenue Commissioners. She then discovered that her employment had been terminated on December 31st 2020. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
At the hearing with the complainant’s colleagues on December 14th 2022, the respondent said that her lease was up on the premises in the Square in Tallaght during the period when it was closed due to Covid-19. Due to the pandemic, she said that she wasn’t comfortable being in the café and that she didn’t want her staff to return to work either. She said that she was advised by her accountant that it would cost €6,000 or €7,000 to liquidate her business and that it would be better to “let it go as it is.” She said that she had not traded since March 2020. |
Findings and Conclusions:
Section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 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 the complainant’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. |
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.
Subject to her PRSI contribution status, I have decided that the complainant is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment based on her service from December 5th 2017 until December 31st 2020. |
Dated: 13-01-2023
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Key Words:
Redundancy, business closure |