ADJUDICATION OFFICER Recommendation on dispute under Industrial Relations Act 1969
Investigation Recommendation Reference: IR - SC - 00002992
Parties:
| Worker | Employer |
Anonymised Parties | A Worker | An Employer |
Representatives | Self Represented | Desmond Ryan B.L. instructed by Clark Hill Solicitors LLP |
Dispute(s):
Act | Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 | IR - SC - 00002992 | 08/08/2024 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 | IR - SC - 00002993 | 08/08/2024 |
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Conor Stokes
Date of Hearing: 14/01/2025
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 (as amended) following the referral of the dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any information relevant to the dispute(s).
Background:
This matter was heard by way of remote hearing pursuant to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2020 and S.I. No. 359/2020 which designates the WRC as a body empowered to hold remote hearings. The workers former employer has become a different legal entity in the period that elapsed since he resigned from his employment in September 2022. |
Summary of Workers Case:
The worker submitted two disputes under the Industrial Relations legislation in August 2024. |
Summary of Employer’s Case:
The Employer submitted that it is not appropriate for a worker to seek to ventilate via Industrial Relations machinery matters which he clearly sought to ventilate pursuant to employment rights legislation, but which are now irrevocably statute barred. It would be inappropriate for the industrial relations machinery of the WRC to be utilised in this way. |
Conclusions:
In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the parties. The worker took his cases under the industrial relations legislation to the WRC almost two years after he submitted his resignation. During that Time, his former employment transferred to a different legal entity by way of a transfer of undertakings. How he taken his cases to the WRC before that transfer of undertaking, matters may have been different. However, he has taken a case under the industrial relations mechanism regarding an employer with which he was never employed. As such it is inappropriate for me to make a recommendation in the circumstances. Additionally, the subject matter of the case is being taken under the industrial relations mechanism were also taken as employment rights cases which were found to be out of time. As such it is also inappropriate for me to make a recommendation in these circumstances. |
Recommendation:
Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute. However, given the circumstances surrounding the delay in availing of the industrial relations mechanism on the part of the worker as outlined above, and the change in the legal entity, it is not possible for me to make a recommendation in this instance.
Dated: 15th January 2025.
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Conor Stokes
Key Words:
Industrial Relations Act – timelapse – change in legal entity – employment rights decision issued – no recommendation possible |