Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Ciara O Meara

Explore Marketing Ltd Trespass

Representatives

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 28 of the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act, 2005

CA-00056086-001

14/04/2023

The Complainant began her employment as a manager with the Respondent on 7 December 2020 and was paid €660 per week. Her employment ended on 27 September 2021. She stated that she discovered on 24 October 2022 that she had been penalised by the Respondent for making a complaint to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

The Complainant stated that despite her employment having ended on 27 September 2021, she only discovered on 24 October 2022 that she had been penalised for making a complaint to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) when the Respondent presented their evidence at another WRC hearing.

The Respondent presented no evidence in respect of the instant complaint and simply stated that as the Complainant’s employment had ended on 27 September 2021 and the instant claim had been referred to the WRC on 14 April 2023, it was outside of the timeframes set down in legislation.

Section 41(6) and (8) of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 govern the time frame for submitting claims for consideration by the Workplace Relations Commission.  These sections state as follows:

(6) Subject to subsection (8), an adjudication officer shall not entertain a complaint referred to him or her under this section if it has been presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates.

(8) An adjudication officer may entertain a complaint or dispute to which this section applies presented or referred to the Director General after the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (6) or (7) (but not later than 6 months after such expiration), as the case may be, if he or she is satisfied that the failure to present the complaint or refer the dispute within that period was due to reasonable cause.

As the Complainant’s employment with the Respondent ended on 27 September 2021 and this complaint was not presented within the time period of either 6 months or 12 months (extendable due to reasonable cause as outlined above) after she left the Respondent’s employment, it is out of time and cannot be considered under the legislation.

I do not have jurisdiction to hear this complaint for the reasons set out above.