Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Helen  Guerin

Manor Stone Quarries Ltd

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

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Representatives

  Self-Represented

Tom Hennessey

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 9 of the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act, 1984.

CA-00063501-001

16/03/2024

The Complainant, an accounts assistant with the Respondent. Evidence was given on affirmation. 

Mr. Tom Hennessey appeared on behalf of the Respondent. He gave evidence on affirmation. 

Mr. David King, Senior Manager with PWC appeared on behalf of the appointed receiver of the Respondent, Mr. Ken Tyrell. Evidence was given on affirmation. 

It was the Complainant’s evidence that she was an account assistant with the Respondent from 13 February 2023 until 21 August 2023 when she was advised the company had gone into liquidation.

It was her evidence that the Respondent failed to pay her wages for 17, 18, 21 and 22 August 2023, annual leave entitlement for the May and June 2023 public holidays and notice pay in the amount of €2,492.64.

The Respondent accepted the Complainant’s evidence. The Receiver, although not objecting, did not agree with the figures submitted in evidence on the basis they differed from those furnished by the Liquidator.

Section 9 (1) of the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act, 1984 (as amended) provides that where:

(1) A person who has applied for a payment—

(a) under section 6 of a debt described in subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iv) of subsection (2)(a) of that section, or

(b) to be made under section 7 of this Act into the resources of a pension scheme,

may present a complaint to the Director General that—

(i) the Minister has failed to make such payment, or

(ii) any such payment made by the Minister is less than the amount that the Minister is required to pay under section 6 or 7, as may be appropriate.”

Section 1 A provides:-

“(1A) The Director General shall refer a complaint presented to him or her under subsection (1) for adjudication by an adjudication officer.”

It was the Complainant’s evidence that neither the Liquidator nor Receiver submitted this application to the Department of Social Protection on her behalf. Upon inquiry, she accepted she did not submit the application on her own behalf nor has there been a failure of Minister for Social Protection to make payment due to her under the Insolvency Payments Scheme.

Section 1 B and 1C of the Act set out the jurisdiction in terms of time for such complaints to be heard by the Workplace Relations Commission: -

“(1B) 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 decision by the Minister in relation to the application to which the complaint relates.

(1C) An adjudication officer may entertain a complaint to which this section applies presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (1B) (but not later than 6 months after such expiration) if he or she is satisfied that the failure to present the complaint within that period was due to reasonable cause.”

In the circumstances where the Complainant’s employment ended on 21 August 2023, but her Complaint Form was not received by the Workplace Relations Commission until near 7 months later on 16 March 2024 together with the fact that at no stage did she make an application to the Minister for Social Protection in the first instance, there is no jurisdiction for the Workplace Relations Commission to entertain this complaint. 

Similarly, as she is outside of the 6-month period provided in the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, there is no recourse available to her under this legislation either. This is despite the Respondent and Receiver, not raising any objection to the details of the complaint being considered in border terms where the WRC Complaint Form is not a statutory form.

I find the complaint is not well founded.

Employer’s Insolvency