Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Lauren  Kelly

Aviva

Representatives

  Self represented.

Niamh Ní Cheallaigh, Ibec

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 18 of the Parental Leave Act 1998

CA-00051745-001

19/07/2022

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent on 17th December 2017.

The Complainant is employed as a Supply Chain Administrator.

This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 19th July 2022.

Hearings for the complaint took place on 14th April 2023 and 1st June 2023.

The Complainant stated that the complaint was submitted because of an overpayment made to her by her employer.

On returning from maternity leave in September 2020 the Complainant started taking every Monday off as parental leave days, this was approved by the Respondent. Parental leave is a total of 130 days.

In May 2022 the Complainant emailed her HR department to enquire how many days she had remaining. The HR department replied that they had no knowledge of the Complainant taking parental leave since May 2020 and that no deduction had ever been made to her salary. This resulted in an overpayment of Euro 9,500 being made to the Complainant.

The Complainant has raised the issue of a document entitled Parental Leave – Manager Guidelines. These Guidelines were not followed by the Respondent, she is now aggrieved that a repayment of the overpayment must now be made.

This overpayment has caused the Complainant much anxiety and has placed substantial financial pressures on the Complainant.

The Respondent representative submitted a comprehensive written submission.

Section 6 of the Parental Leave Act states that ‘an employee who is the natural or adoptive parent of a child shall be entitled to leave from his or her employment, to be known and referred to in this Act as “parental leave”, for a period of 18 working weeks to enable him or her to take care of the child.’

The Complainant availed of her entitlement to Parental Leave. She began to take Parental Leave on a weekly basis from 24 August 2020. She then requested that this arrangement cease on 5 September 2023.

 In her complaint form, the Complainant has indicated that she did not receive her entitlement to Parental Leave. This is in no way the case. The Complainant availed of this right for a number of years. The Respondent in no way denied the Complainant her right to Parental Leave. Although the arrangement did cease, this was done so at the request of the Complainant. It is the Respondent’s view that no breach of the Parental Leave Acts occurred.

It is noted that Parental Leave is unpaid. There is no entitlement to remuneration during this time. Section 14 of the Act outlines;

14.—(1) An employee shall, while on parental leave, be regarded for all purposes relating to his or her employment (other than his or her right to remuneration or superannuation benefits or any obligation to pay contributions in or in respect of the employment) as still working in the employment and none of his or her other rights relating to the employment shall be affected by theleave.

Due to the fact that the parental leave application process was not followed correctly, no deduction was made to the Complainant’s salary when she began to take Parental Leave one day per week When this error was brought to the attention of HR, it was discussed with the Complainant so that a repayment plan could be agreed.

 Since this administrative error, the Respondent has implemented steps to ensure it does not happen again. There is now a notification on the Workday system to flag to HR when an employee is availing of Parental Leave. There is also a quarterly review of the system to ensure compliance.

 Conclusion

It is the Respondent’s position that no breach of the Parental Leave Acts occurred.

However, the Respondent does recognise that there was an administrative error that has led to an overpayment being made. The Respondent company is willing to work with the Complainant to rectify the situation to the satisfaction of both parties as soon as possible.

An employee availing of Parental Leave is entitled to up to 18 working weeks leave.

Section 14 (1) of the Parental Leave Act 1998 reads as follows:

(1)    An employee shall, while on parental leave, be regarded for all purposes relating to his or her employment (other that his or her right to remuneration or superannuation benefits or any obligation to pay contributions in or in respect of the employment) as still working in the employment and none of his or her other rights relating to the employment shall be affected by the leave.

There is no legal obligation on any employer to pay wages / salary to an employee during any period of parental leave.

The Terms and Conditions of Employment letter issued to the Complainant at the commencement of employment contains a clause that reads as follows:

“If you owe us or any Group company any money at any time, by accepting these terms you are agreeing that we can deduct the money owed from your salary or from any other payment due to you in connection with your employment with us. This does not prevent us from seeking recovery of any money that remains owing through any process. Such deductions include for example any overpayments, loans or advances made to you by us or the cost of repairing any damage or loss to our property caused by you or any losses suffered by us as a result of your misconduct”.

I have carefully considered the complaint and submissions from the parties. The complaint as submitted under section 18 of the Parental Leave Act 1998 is not well founded and I find accordingly.

I have carefully considered the complaint and submissions from the parties. The complaint as submitted under section 18 of the Parental Leave Act 1998 is not well founded and I find accordingly.

Parental Leave Act, 1998.