Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Catherine  Byrne

Carters Childcare Limited Saints and Scholars Creche and Montessori

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Representatives

Siobhan Mccormack Citizen's Information Service

 Collette Carter

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00063807-001

29/05/2024

This is a complaint that the Respondent failed to provide the Complainant with a statement of terms of employment while in her employment, as required by the Terms of Employment Act 1994.

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent on 01.07.2021 as a childcare worker and was employed until 19.04.2024.

The rate of pay was €15 per hour over a thirty-two-hour week.

The submission on behalf of the Complainant is that she did not receive a statement of terms of employment from the Respondent at any stage during her employment.

At the hearing the Respondent spoke about issuing terms in March 2024 by email to the Complainant. Following consultation with the Complainant who checked her phone during the hearing, the Representative maintained the position that no statement of terms was received during the period of  employment, or at all.  

The Respondent gave evidence that there is a standard statement of terms in the employment and a detailed handbook. A statement for Catherine Byrne was submitted at the hearing.  These should have been issued to the Complainant but due to a combination of personal circumstances this did not occur when the Complainant commenced employment. In March 2024 issues involving the Complainant and  another employee arose in the workplace. When the Respondent referred to using the grievance procedure, the Complainant asked what this was and that is when the Respondent issued the statement of terms by email. Asked to locate  the email, the Respondent displayed one on 22 April 2024. In that email the Complainant was replying to an email to the effect that she could not open the attachment. The Respondent was asked to search further for the first email in the chain and to provide same following the hearing. Following the hearing, the Respondent emailed the grievance procedure to the WRC. No further emails and specifically none issued to the Complainant in March or prior to the cessation of her employment on 19.04.24 were provided.

It is an agreed matter of fact that the Respondent did not issue a personal statement of terms to the Complainant when she commenced employment. The copy provided to the hearing is signed by the Colette Carter and dated by her /08/21(incomplete). There is no evidence that this document was issued to the Complainant at any stage during her employment. It seems more likely that any document issued on or after April 22nd, 2024, was the staff handbook and not a personal statement of terms as the latter document still contains the original and incomplete date. In any event April 22nd is three days after the end of the employment relationship which the parties agreed occurred on April 19th, 2024.

The Complainant has established a well-founded complaint of a failure by the Respondent to comply with the terms of Section 3 of the Terms of Employment Information Act 1994.

Compensation of €1000 is considered appropriate in the circumstances.

CA-00063807-001  Terms of Employment Information Act 1994 as amended

The complaint of Catherine Byrne against the Respondent Carters Childcare Ltd is well founded. The Respondent is to pay Catherine Byrne the sum of €1000 compensation.

Statement of Terms of Employment.