ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00041550
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Michael Robbins | Origin Multilingual Beeswax Europe Limited |
Complaint:
Act | Complaint Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 | CA-00052803-001 | 13/09/2022 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 11/04/2023
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 following the referral of the complaints to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaints and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The complainant had been employed as a help desk agent by the respondent to provide services from a specific start date to an end date at a fixed hourly rate. His employment was based on a letter of engagement which he accepted was not a contract of service. It is a contract for services. His complaint relates to the notice payment to which he is entitled on the termination of his employment. He is seeking clarification on this from the tribunal. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent submits that the complainant was engaged as a self-employed contractor based in Poland. At no point was he offered a position as an employee. He submitted timesheets and an outline of those hours each month to secure payment. There was no provision in his contract for a notice payment on termination. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The facts in this case are not in dispute in any way. The complainant does not assert that he was on a contract of service, and even in submitting the complaint he did not make this claim. While he questioned the manner in which his contract came to an end, I find that it did so entirely in accordance with its own terms; there was no surprise about it and the complainant did not contest it. It is clear from the submissions of both parties that the complainant was a self employed contractor. Accordingly, I find that he was not an employee engaged on a contract of service and he has no entitlements under the Act. His contract for services terminated in accordance with its own provisions which he had freely entered into. |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that
For the reasons set out above complaint CA-00052803-001 is not well-founded. |
Dated: 18th May 2023
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady
Key Words:
Entitlement to notice, contract for services. |