ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00048432
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Matvei Tulgara | Rocstone Imports Limited t/a Rilco |
Representatives | Self | No attendance by, or on behalf of, the Respondent |
Complaint:
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-00059655-001 | 27/10/2023 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 04/03/2024
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Marie Flynn
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2014 following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.
The parties are named in the heading of the decision. For ease of reference, the generic terms of Complainant and Respondent are used throughout the text.
Background:
The Complainant claims that he did not receive his statutory redundancy payment when his employment with the Respondent was terminated by reason of redundancy. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Complainant was employed by the Respondent from 19 July 2021 until 8 September 2023 when the Respondent company went into liquidation. The Complainant said that the Respondent did not pay him his statutory redundancy entitlement. The Complainant said that he was also employed by the Respondent from 2014 until 2016 when he left to work elsewhere. The Complainant requested that this period of employment would be taken into account when calculating his redundancy payment. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent did not attend that adjudication hearing. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The Law Section 19 of Schedule 3 to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, as amended, sets out the methodology for calculating the lump sum to which an employee who has been made redundant is entitled and provides a definition for the phrase “continuous employment”. “1. The amount of the lump sum shall be equivalent to the aggregate of the following: (a) the product of two weeks of the employee’s normal weekly remuneration and the number of years of continuous employment from the date on which the employee attained the age of 16 years with the employer by whom the employee was employed on the date of dismissal or by whom the employee was employed when the employee gave notice of intention to claim under section 12, and (b) a sum equivalent to the employee’s normal weekly remuneration. … Continuous Employment 4. For the purposes of this Schedule employment shall be taken to be continuous unless terminated by dismissal or by the employee’s voluntarily leaving the employment …”
Findings I am of the view that given that the Complainant left the Respondent’s employment to work elsewhere between his first and second period of employment with the Respondent, the two periods of employment cannot be combined to create a period of continuous employment. Accordingly, based on the uncontested evidence of the Complainant, I find that the Complainant was employed on a continuous basis by the Respondent from 19 July 2021 to 8 September 2023 when his employment was terminated by reason of redundancy following the closure of the Respondent’s business. |
Decision:
Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.
I find that the Complainant is entitled to a statutory redundancy lump sum under the Redundancy Payments Acts based on his continuous and reckonable service in accordance with the following criteria: - Date of commencement: 19 July 2021 - Date of termination: 8 September 2023 - Gross weekly wage: €673.07 This award is made subject to the Complainant having been in insurable employment under the Social Welfare Acts during the relevant period. |
Dated: 06-03-2024
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Marie Flynn
Key Words:
Redundancy Payments Acts – statutory redundancy entitlement – closure of business – uncontested claim – continuous service |