ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00051608
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Joseph Doyle | Pilgrim Food Masters |
Representatives | Self | Brian Joyce IBEC |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 | CA-00062967-001 | 22/04/2024 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 09/09/2024
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Niamh O'Carroll
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 alleges that he was unfairly dismissed from his employment with the Respondent. The Respondent contests the complaint and states by way of preliminary application the matter is statute barred.
|
Summary of Respondent’s preliminary application:
The Respondent argues that the Complaint is out of time. The Complainant’s employment ended on the 13.09.2023. He filed his claim on the 22.04.2024. The Complainant hasn’t given any real reasons as to why the complaint wasn’t file on time. Therefore, there are no reasons which could allow the Adjudicator extend the time by a further six months. |
Summary of Complainant’s response:
The Complainant was having some personal issues prior to his employment ending. They were having a detrimental effect on his mood. When he lost his job, his mood deteriorated further. He wasn’t able to think about the circumstances surrounding the ending of his employment for quite some time. He only started to address it in his mind in or around March 2024. He called the WRC and they told him he had to fill in the form and then send it to both the WRC and to the Respondent. He did that but not until 22.04.2024. Whilst his mood was low up to that point, he did not seek medical attention of any type to help him with the issues he was experiencing. He did start a new job sometime in March 2024. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The Respondent argues that the Complaint is out of time. The Complainant’s employment ended on the 13.09.2023. He filed his claim on the 22.04.2024. The Complainant hasn’t given any real reasons as to why the complaint wasn’t file on time. The Complainant stated that he was in very bad form after his employment ended. He wasn’t in the right headspace to think about the circumstances that lead to his employment ending. It wasn’t until March 2024 that he started to think about it. He called the WRC and he was instructed what he should do to file a complaint. He didn’t file the complaint until 22.04.2024. He accepted that he did not seek any medical attention for the difficulties he was having since he lost his employment. |
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.
The complaint fails. |
Dated: 27.03.25
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Niamh O'Carroll
Key Words:
Statute of Limitations, reasonable cause. Jurisdiction. |