Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Thomas  Corry

J.J McGovern Limited

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-00060488-001

12/12/2023

The complaint was referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on 12th December 2023 and relates to redundancy entitlements.

The complainant stated that he did not work for the respondent after 21st December 2022 as the employer told him, that there was no more work for him. The complainant stated in his submission at the adjudication hearing that he made enquiries with the principal of the respondent in November 2023 when he became aware that the premised where he had worked had been sold. The complainant stated that he had sought his redundancy entitlements at that time from his employer and had informed the employer that he would refer the matter to the WRC if he did not receive same.

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

The complaint relates to the complainant’s redundancy entitlements in circumstances where his employment ended on 21st December 2022 and the respondent ceased trading in February 2023.

The Applicable Law

Sections 7(1) and 7(2) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 provides 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

(b) the fact that the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where he was so employed have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish, or

(c) the fact that his employer has decided to carry on the business with fewer or no employees, whether by requiring the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) to be done by other employees or otherwise, or

(d) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done in a different manner for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained, or

(e) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done by a person who is also capable of doing other work for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained,

Having considered the submissions of the complainant and in the absence of any participation from the respondent in relation to the complaint, I am satisfied that the complainant’s employment ended by reason of redundancy on 21st December 2022 in accordance with the provisions of Section 7(2)(a) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967.

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

Date of commencement of employment: 15th September 2019

Date of cessation of employment: 21st December 2022

Gross weekly rate of pay: €611.91.

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