Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Graham  Coventry

The Parnell GAA Club

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

{text}

{text}

Representatives

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00052820-001

14/09/2022

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

CA-00052820-002

14/09/2022

The Complainant stated that he started work with the Respondent 15 May 2015 and was employed to do bar/security work. He alleged that he did not receive his statutory redundancy entitlements despite having furnished a Form RP 9 to the Respondent on 20 April 2022, having been temporarily laid off since 13 March 2020.

The Complainant stated that he started work with the Respondent 15 May 2015 and was employed to do bar/security work on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and occasionally during the week when required. He stated that he was temporarily laid off on 13 March 2020 as a result of the covid pandemic. Despite having attended a number of meetings over the course of 2020, 2021 and 2022 regarding the possible re-opening of the premises, it never materialised, and his place of work remains closed. As a result, the Complainant furnished a Form RP 9 to the Respondent on 20 April 2022 but did not receive a reply and was not paid his statutory redundancy entitlements.

The Respondent did not attend on the day of the hearing and did not make any written submissions in advance.

Sections 11 and 12 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 provide for Lay-off and Short-time:

Lay-off and short-time.

11.—(1) Where an employee’s employment ceases by reason of his employer’s being unable to provide the work for which the employee was employed to do, and—

(a) it is reasonable in the circumstances for that employer to believe that the cessation of employment will not be permanent, and

(b) the employer gives notice to that effect to the employee prior to the cessation,

that cessation of employment shall be regarded for the purposes of this Act as lay-off.

(2) Where—

(a) for any week an employee’s remuneration is less than one-half of his normal weekly remuneration or his hours of work are reduced to less than one-half of his normal weekly hours,

(b) the reduction in remuneration or hours of work is caused by a diminution either in the work provided for the employee by his employer or in other work of a kind which under his contract the employee is employed to do.

(c) it is reasonable in the circumstances for the employer to believe that the diminution in work will not be permanent and he gives notice to that effect to the employee prior to the reduction in remuneration or hours of work,

the employee shall, for the purposes of this Part, be taken to be kept on short-time for that week.

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.

Findings and Conclusion:

The Complainant stated that his last day of work was 13 March 2020 and that he was then put on lay off. I note that pursuant to section 12 of the Act, cited above, the Complainant gave the Respondent notice of his intention to claim a redundancy payment on 20 April 2022 when he served them with a Form RP9 and that the Respondent did not challenge this or pay his entitlements.

Accordingly, the claim for statutory redundancy payment is well founded.

CA – 00052820-001:

I allow the Complainant’s appeal and find that he is entitled to a statutory redundancy lump sum payment under the Redundancy Payment Acts 1967 – 2014 based on the following criteria: 

-          Date of commencement:  15 May 2015

-          Date of termination: 20 April 2022

-          Period of Covid-19 related lay-off: 13 March 2020 until 24 March 2022

-          Gross weekly wage: €533.67

This award is made subject to the Complainant having been in insurable employment under the Social Welfare Acts during the relevant period.

CA -00052820-002:

This is a duplicate complaint and has been dealt with in the context of CA – 00052820-001 above.