Investigation Recommendation Reference: ADJ-000046956

Parties:

	Worker	Employer
Anonymised Parties	A Worker	A Health Service Provider

Representatives

The complainant did not attend and was not represented at the hearing

Mark Comerford IBEC

Dispute(s):

Act	Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Industrial Relations Act 1969	CA-00057918	31/07/2022

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emer O'Shea

Date of Hearing: 27.03.2023

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 (as amended) following the referral of the dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any information relevant to the dispute(s).

Summary of Workers Case:

The claimant did not attend and was not represented at the hearing.

Summary of Employer’s Case:

The respondent submitted written submissions on the complaint and attended the hearing with witnesses who were available to give evidence in relation to the complaint.

Findings and Conclusions:

The complainant was notified of the hearing on the 15th.February 2023. She sought a postponement on the 21st.March and was notified that the application was refused on the 21st.March 2023 by the WRC. On the day of the hearing, the concierge contacted the claimant to establish if she was having difficulty connecting to the Webex Platform. The complainant stated that she had forgotten about the hearing and could not attend as she was at work. She subsequently sought the reconvening of the hearing. Submissions were received from both parties with the complainant asking that the hearing be reconvened and the respondent submitting that no exceptional circumstances or substantial reasons were advanced to justify an adjournment.

Having considered the submissions of both parties I find that the complainant has failed to meet the test set out in the WRC Guidelines for an adjournment i.e. ‘exceptional circumstances and substantial reasons’.

Recommendation

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.

I am satisfied that the claimant was duly notified of the date time and place at which the hearing to investigate the complaint would be held. The claimant did not attend and did not offer any compelling grounds to justify her absence. In these circumstances and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary having been adduced before me, I must conclude that the within complaint is not well founded and I recommend accordingly.

Dated: 14/09/2023