Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Leandro Giglio

Oak Central Recruitment

Representatives

Day 2 only:

Marcus Vinicus Neves, Advisor

Day 1 only:

John Connellan, Solicitor

Act

Complaint 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-00070246-001

25/03/2025

On April 10th 2024, the complainant commenced employment as a general operative in the respondent’s logistics depot in Blanchardstown.  His hourly rate of pay was €14.05.  He worked 40 hours per week from 07.00 until 15.00.  He said that he received a copy of a contract when he started in the job.  On the day of the resumed hearing, February 16th 2026, the depot manager, Mr Cummins, sent me a copy of the signature page of a “Statement of Particulars” which the complainant signed on April 16th 2024.  Mr Neves sent me a full copy of this document after the hearing.

On July 12th 2024, when he had been in the job for three months, the complainant was promoted to the role of duty manager on the night shift.  In this role, he worked from 23.00 until 07.00 at a rate of €165.80 per shift.  In his evidence at the hearing, he said that he supervised around 25 employees and that he dealt with scheduling, despatch, security and food safety.  He said that, although his shift finished at 07.00, he was required to attend meetings at 07.00.  He said that he wasn’t paid for working after his finish time.

In the complaint he submitted to the WRC on March 25th 2025, the complainant said that, when he took on the job of duty manager, he wasn’t given an amended statement, setting out the terms and conditions of his new role.  He said that he requested a statement verbally and by email, but he didn’t get one.  He said that the absence of a statement meant that he didn’t know if he was required to remain at work after his finishing time of 07.00 and if he was entitled to be paid for the extra hours that he worked.

On March 30th 2025, the complainant said that while he was at work, he had a stroke.  He said that some of the workers on the shift observed that his face had dropped.  He said that he sat down in a quiet place and had a drink of water.  He then finished his shift.  When he was in bed later in the day, he said that he had another stroke.  He was admitted to hospital and, since then, he has been working on getting his health back so that he can return to work.  

The respondent’s case is that the complainant was issued with a statement of his terms and conditions of employment on April 16th 2024.  Mr Cummins also provided me with a copy of an “updated Statement of Terms of Employment” which, he said, was issued to all employees on February 6th 2026.  He wrote that “these terms of employment are the same for everyone.”

The Requirement to Provide a Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment

Section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 (“the Act”) was amended by the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018.  The amended provisions require an employer, within five days of an employee’s start date, to provide them with a statement containing the following information:

(a)  The name of the employer and the employee;

(b)  The address of the employer;

(c)  If the contract is temporary, the expected duration, or if the contract is for a fixed-term, the end date of the fixed-term;

(d)  The rate or method of calculation of wages and the pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000;

(e)  The daily and weekly hours that the employee is expected to work.

Not later than one month after the commencement of an employee’s employment, they must be given a statement with the following additional information: 

(f)  The place of work, or, where there is no fixed place of work, the statement must specify that the employee is required to work at various places;

(g)  The job title or the nature of the work that the employee is required to carry out;

(h)  The date that the employee commences in the job;

(i)  Details of any collective agreement which affects the employee’s terms and conditions of employment and information about where the employee can get a copy of any such agreement;

(j)  That the employee may, under section 23 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, request from the employer a written statement of his or her average hourly rate of pay for any pay reference period as provided in that section;

(k)  The pay frequency, whether weekly or monthly or some other frequency;    

(l)  Any terms or conditions relating to hours of work (including overtime);

(m)  Any conditions relating to paid leave (other than paid sick leave);

(n)  Any terms or conditions relating to –

       (i)  Incapacity for work due to sickness or injury and paid sick leave;

       (ii)  pensions and pension schemes;

(o)  The notice that the employee is required to give and the notice that he or she is entitled to receive at the termination of employment;

(p)  A reference to any collective agreements which directly affect the employee’s terms and conditions, including, where the employer is not a party to such agreements, particulars of the bodies or institutions by whom they were made.

These statements are generally issued in the form of a contract of employment, and, in most circumstances the five-day statement and the one-month statement are issued as one document containing all the information at (a) to (p) above, plus any other relevant information that the employer may wish to confirm in writing.

Changes to Terms and Conditions of Employment

Section 5 of the Act addresses the employer’s obligation to provide notice in writing to an employee if there are changes in their terms and conditions of employment:

(1) Subject to subsection (2), whenever a change is made or occurs in any of the particulars of the statement furnished by an employer under section 3, 4 or 6, the employer shall notify the employee in writing of the nature and date of the change as soon as may be thereafter, but not later than—

(a) the day on which the change takes effect, or

(b) where the change is consequent on the employee being required to work outside the State for a period of more than 1 month, the time of the employee’s departure.

(2) (This subsection relates to changes in the law or in a registered employment agreement and is not relevant to the complainant’s case).

Section 4 relates to employment outside Ireland and section 6 relates to contracts of employment issued before the enactment of the 1994 Act.  The issue for consideration is whether there were changes to the complainant’s terms and conditions of employment referred to in the statement furnished by the respondent under section 3. 

Following the hearing on February 16th 2026, the complainant sent me a copy of the “Statement of Particulars” he signed on April 16th 2024, four days after he started in his job as a general operative.  While this document contains most of the components required by section 3 of the Act, it is deficient in some respects. 

1.       There is no reference to the rate or method of calculation of wages and no details of the pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000.

2.       There is no mention of the employer’s obligation to facilitate employees by arranging access to a personal retirement savings account.

3.       There is no reference to the notice an employee is required to give of the termination of their employment, or of the notice that an employer is required to give an employee.

On July 12th 2024, the complainant was promoted to the role of night duty manager and he asked for an amended statement to reflect his change in his job title, his move to the night shift and his increased salary.  A year later, when he hadn’t received an amended statement, he wrote to his supervisor, Mr Byrne, and the manager, Mr Cummins, repeating his request for a statement to reflect his new role.  Rather than an amended statement, he was re-issued with a copy of the statement issued to him when he commenced as a general operative in April 2024.

On the day of the hearing, I received the updated Statement of Terms of Employment which, Mr Cummins said, was issued to all employees on February 6th 2026 and which is the same for all employees.  This complaint was submitted to the WRC on March 25th 2025, and therefore, this updated statement is not relevant to the issue in dispute.  While not relevant, I examined this document which opens with the following paragraph:

“This Statement of Terms of Employment is designed to help you to settle into this work environment as quickly as possible. It is intended as a general guide setting out what the Company expects of you. If after reading this Statement of Terms of Employment you wish to know more about any particular policy, or any aspect of your employment please ask your Manager.”

This document is not particular to any individual employee and is more like an employee handbook, containing as it does policies on grievance and discipline, bullying and harassment, IT and disability and dignity.  It does not fulfil the requirements of section 3 of the Act because it does not include the information required at (a) to (p) above.  More critically from the complainant’s perspective, it does not provide any particulars related to his change of role from general operative to night duty manager. 

Findings

When he was promoted to the role of night duty manager on July 12th 2024, certain changes occurred to the terms and conditions documented in the complainant’s original contract concerning his job as a general operative.  When he was promoted, he was entitled to receive an amended contract, or a letter confirming the following changes to his terms and conditions:

1.       At the first hearing on September 26th 2025, Mr Cummins said that the complainant was appointed to the night duty manager job on a trial basis for six months, although, when he submitted this complaint, he had been in the role for 10 months.  If he was on probation in his new role, this should have been confirmed to him in writing.

2.       At the hearing on February 16th 2026, the complainant said that, when he moved to the new role, he moved from an hourly rate of pay to a nightly rate of €165.80, equivalent to €829.00 per week or €43,108 per year.  The change to his rate and method of calculation of pay should have been confirmed in writing. 

3.       As he changed from working from 07.00 to 15.00 to being a night shift worker from 23.00 to 07.00, this should have been confirmed to him in writing, along with his entitlement to breaks during the shift.

4.       His changed job title and his start date in the role should also have been confirmed in writing.

5.       As the complainant said that he was required to attend meetings after his shift finished at 07.00, he should have been informed in writing of the rate of pay that applied to overtime.

At the hearing, the complainant said that his employer’s failure to provide him with a statement in writing of the terms and condition of his job as a night duty manager left him in an uncertain situation regarding his rights, a predicament that the legislation is specifically intended to avoid.

Conclusions

Having identified the breach of section 5 of the Act, in accordance with section 7(2)(d), I am required to order the employer to pay compensation of “such an amount (if any) as is just and equitable, having regard to all the circumstances, but not exceeding 4 weeks’ remuneration…”  Taking account of the circumstances outlined by the complainant, it is my view that compensation equivalent to four weeks’ pay is just and equitable.   

I decide that this complaint is well founded and I direct the respondent to pay the complainant compensation of €3,316.00, equivalent to four weeks’ gross pay.  As this award is redress for breach of a statutory right, in accordance with s.192A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, it is not subject to deductions for tax, PRSI or USC.

Changes to terms and conditions of employment