ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00053999

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Parties	Robert Wrobel	Fishy Fishy Cafe

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	{text}	{text}

Representatives

Complaint(s):

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994	CA-00065884-002	10/09/2024

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 06/11/2024

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Breiffni O'Neill

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 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.

Specifically, I conducted a remote hearing in accordance with the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and Statutory Instrument 359/2020 which designates the Workplace Relations Commission as a body empowered to hold remote hearings.

Although I am satisfied that the Respondent was notified of the time and date of the hearing, he was not in attendance at the scheduled start time of 10.30am. The concierge made several attempts to contact him via telephone between 10.30 and 11am but he did not reply. The hearing proceeded in his absence.

Background:

The Complainant stated that he did not receive a written statement of his terms and conditions of employment while he worked with the Respondent from 16 August 2023 to 30 June 2024.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The Complainant stated that his employment as a Sous Chef with the Respondent started on 16 August 2023 and ended on 30 June 2024. He stated that he did not receive a written statement of his terms and conditions of employment while he worked with the Respondent.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

Although I am satisfied that the Respondent was notified of the time and date of the hearing, he was not in attendance on the day.

Findings and Conclusions:

The Law

The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, as amended, (the “TE(I)A”) sets out the basic terms of employment which an employer must provide to an employee in written form. Section 3(1) of the TE(I)A also obligates an employer to provide employees with a statement in writing concerning other aspects of an employee’s terms and conditions of employment within two months of commencing employment. This provision was recently amended to indicate one month.

Findings:

The Complainant stated that he did not receive a statement in writing of his general terms of employment within one month of commencing his role or while he worked with the Respondent.

As the Respondent was not in attendance on the day of the hearing to dispute this, I find that this complaint is well founded.

Decision:

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.

I find that this complaint is well founded for the reasons set out above.

In deciding on an award of compensation, I note that the Respondent is a small enterprise and that there were no adverse implications for the Complainant by the failure to provide him with a statement of his general terms and conditions of employment as required by the Act. Bearing these two factors in mind, I make an award of €900, namely one week’s pay, in respect of this complaint.

Dated: 20.03.25

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Breiffni O'Neill

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