Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Thomas  Mulligan

Future Pigs Ltd

Representatives

  In person

 Did not attend

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-00058691-001

06/09/2023

The complainant was employed by the respondent from 5th August 2016 until 27th January 2023. The complaint was submitted to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on 6th September 2023. The complainant is seeking his redundancy entitlements.

The complainant represented himself at the adjudication hearing and addressed his complaint by way of oral submission. The complainant stated that he was employed as a manager by the respondent until the site where he was employed closed in January 2023. The complainant stated that the site was leased, and his employer vacated the site and returned to another location in Co Kildare. The complainant stated that approximately six months later he was re-employed on the same site by a different employer who had subsequently taken over the lease and he remains employed to date.

The respondent did not attend the adjudication hearing and was not represented.

The within complaint relates to the complainant’s redundancy entitlements. The complainant attended the adjudication hearing at the scheduled time. The commencement of the hearing was delayed by 15 minutes to facilitate the late arrival of the respondent but there was no attendance by or on its behalf. Having reviewed the documentation in relation to the complaint I am satisfied that the respondent was notified to its registered address of the time, date and venue of the adjudication hearing.

The Applicable Law

Section 7(1) and (2) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 provide as follows:

7(1) An employee, if he is dismissed by his employer by reason of redundancy or is laid off or kept on short-time for the minimum period, shall, subject to this Act, be entitled to the payment of moneys which shall be known (and are in this Act referred to) as redundancy payment provided—

(a) he has been employed for the requisite period, and

(b) he was an employed contributor in employment which was insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1966, immediately before the date of the termination of his employment, or had ceased to be ordinarily employed in employment which was so insurable in the period of four years ending on that date.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if for one or more reasons not related to the employee concerned the dismissal is attributable wholly or mainly to—

(a) the fact that his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed, or…….

Conclusions

Having considered the oral submission of the complainant, I am satisfied that his employment ended by reason of redundancy on 27th January 2023 when his employer ceased to carry on its business in the place where the complainant was employed. Accordingly, I find that the complaint is well founded.

The complaint is well founded. The complainant is entitled to a redundancy payment as follows:

Date of commencement of employment: 5th August 2016

Date of cessation of employment: 27th January 2023

Gross weekly rate of pay: €691.00 per week

The entitlement to a redundancy payment is based on the employee having been in insurable employment within the meaning of the social welfare acts for the period in question.

Redundancy entitlements