Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Patricia Logan

L J Y Store Limited

Representatives

Simon Brock 

Did not attend the hearing and was not represented

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

CA-00063011-001

23/04/2024

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00063011-002

23/04/2024

In September 2013, Ms Logan commenced employment as a shop assistant in a Londis store in Monkstown Farm, Dun Laoghaire.  In 2017, the store changed hands and became a Gala store and Ms Logan continued in employment.  On April 2nd 2018, the business transferred to a Spar franchisee, LJY Store Limited and Ms Logan transferred to that business.  Until the shop closed on February 26th 2024, Ms Logan worked for 21 hours each week from 8.00am until 2.00pm from Monday to Friday.  She earned €262.50 per week.

Ms Logan was paid weekly and, in her evidence at the hearing, she said that, on Thursday, February 22nd, the proprietor of LJY Store, Ms Mills Lau, informed her that she wouldn’t be paid that day.  She said that Ms Lau told her that she would pay her the wages she was owed the following week.  When she was at work on Monday, February 26th, around 12.45pm, Ms Logan said that Ms Lau told her that that shop was closing.  Ms Logan’s employment ended that day, but she was not paid the wages she was due.  She was also not paid in lieu of notice or for her holidays that had accrued.  She received no redundancy pay.  In her evidence, Ms Logan said that she understands that Ms Lau has returned to China.

The following day, February 27th 2024, Ms Logan sent an RP77 form to her former employer’s accountant, PLZ Accountants, at 34 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 2, seeking a redundancy payment.  When she sent a follow-up email on March 6th, an official from that company replied that she had received no communication from Ms Lau regarding the closure of the company and that she was unable to assist Ms Logan.  On April 23rd 2024, Ms Logan submitted these complaints to the WRC.

CA-00063011-001:  Complaint under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967

Section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (as amended) sets out five specific circumstances in which an employee may be entitled to a redundancy payment, the first of which is:

“(a) the fact his employer has ceased or intends to cease to carry on the business for the purpose 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[.]”

As Ms Logan’s employer has ceased operations in the place where she was employed, her job has become redundant.  As she has completed more than two years of service, she is entitled to a redundancy payment.

CA-00063011-002:  Complaint under the Payment of Wages Act 1991

Section 5(6) of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 provides that, to ground a complaint under the Act, wages must be properly payable:

(6) Where—

(a) the total amount of any wages that are paid on any occasion by an employer to an employee is less than the total amount of wages that is properly payable by him to the employee on that occasion (after making any deductions therefrom that fall to be made and are in accordance with this Act), or

(b) none of the wages that are properly payable to an employee by an employer on any occasion (after making any such deductions as aforesaid) are paid to the employee,

then, except in so far as the deficiency or non-payment is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency or non-payment shall be treated as a deduction made by the employer from the wages of the employee on the occasion.

Ms Logan’s evidence is that she did not receive the wages due to her on Thursday, February 22nd, in relation to work done from Monday, February 19th until Friday, February 23rd.  She also received no wages for work done on her last day, Monday, February 26th.  Based on her weekly wages of €262.50, I am satisfied that that Ms Logan’s employer has failed to pay her €315 in respect of wages properly payable to her.

At the termination of her employment, Ms Logan said that she had accrued 42 hours’ holidays.  As she received no pay for holidays that had accrued on the date of her dismissal, based on her gross hourly rate of €12.50, she is entitled to €525 for holidays she did not take and for which she was not paid.

Lastly, on the form she submitted to the WRC, Ms Logan claimed that she received no notice of the termination of her employment.  In her evidence at the hearing, she said that she was informed at 12.45pm on Monday, February 26th that her employment was terminated, and she finished up at 2.00pm that day.  As she had worked for LJY Stores and its predecessors for more than 10 years, she would have been entitled to six weeks’ notice.  As she received no notice, she is entitled to pay in lieu of notice of €1,575.

CA-00063011-001:  Complaint under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967

I decide that this complaint is well founded.  Subject to her PRSI contribution status and, based on her service from September 2013 until February 26th 2024, and her gross weekly wages of €262.50, I decide that Ms Logan is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment.

CA-00063011-002:  Complaint under the Payment of Wages Act 1991

I decide that this complaint is well founded.  In accordance with section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 (as amended), I am required to direct the respondent to pay compensation as a net amount.  Unless provided for as a contractual entitlement, pay in lieu of notice is not subject to tax.  Ms Logan’s moderate wages were such that little or no deductions were made.  Based on the information available to me at the hearing of this complaint, I direct LJY Stores Limited to pay Ms Logan compensation of €2,415 in relation to wages, holidays and notice.

Redundancy pay, wages properly payable, holidays accrued at termination of employment, pay in lieu of notice