ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00048647

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Parties	Lauren Furlong	Annie’s Kitchen Ltd.

Representatives

No appearance

Complaint:

Act	Complaint Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977	CA-00059704-001	31/10/2023

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 22/04/2024

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Lefre de Burgh

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2015 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.

Background:

The Complainant submits that she was employed by the Respondent from 11/05/2023 to 9/10/2023. The Complainant alleges that she was unfairly dismissed.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

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

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

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

Findings and Conclusions:

The complaint was received by the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission on 31st October 2023 whereby the Complainant alleged that her former employer contravened the provisions of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 in relation to her. The complaint was assigned the complaint application number CA-00059704-001.

The said complaint was referred to me for investigation. A hearing for that purpose was arranged for 22nd April 2024.

Neither the Complainant nor the Respondent attended the hearing.

The Respondent attended at the WRC Cork office a day late, in error, and sent a subsequent email to the WRC apologising for the error and outlining the circumstances in which it occurred; and also clarifying that the correct Respondent in this case is ‘Annie’s Kitchen Ltd. T/A Sage Garden Café.’

Having conducted a CRO search, I am satisfied that the correct legal name of the Respondent is ‘Annie’s Kitchen Ltd.’ and have consequently directed the name change accordingly, on this decision.

As no appearance was entered by or on behalf of the Complainant, the remainder of the Respondent’s correspondence is rendered moot, for this purpose of this adjudication.

I further note that the Complainant issued proceedings for unfair dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, and set out in the contents of the complaint form submitted that she had less than 12 months’ service.

Decision:

Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the unfair dismissal claim consisting of a grant of redress in accordance with section 7 of the 1977 Act.

In all the circumstances of the matter, I must conclude that the within complaint (CA-00059704-001) is not well-founded and I decide accordingly.

Dated: 15th of May 2024

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Lefre de Burgh

Key Words:

No appearance;