Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

Seamstress

Alterations Company

Representatives

Mr. Dominic Carthy

Self-Represented

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 - 00003943

11/03/2025

On 11th March 2025, the Worker referred the present dispute to the Commission. Shortly thereafter, the Employer positively elected to engage in the dispute. The dispute was listed for hearing on 8th September 2025, in parallel to numerous other complaints raised under justiciable legislation.

In the course of the hearing, the conclusions set out below were communicated to the parties. 

In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the parties.

As set out above, the present dispute was listed for hearing alongside numerous other complaints in relation to justiciable legislation. The subject matter of these complaints were considered at length and have resulted in a number of decisions in relation to the matters as referred.

In the matter of Nua Healthcare Services Limited -v- A Worker LCR22758, the Labour Court held as follows,

“…noting in particular that the worker has elected to have the facts of the matter addressed in law, the Court concludes that there can be no value from a trade dispute resolution standpoint in the Court purporting to address the underlying facts which have given rise to this trade dispute as an industrial relations matter.”

More recently, in the matter of A Worker -v- Grant Engineering LCR22984, the Court held that,

“…it is inappropriate to conflate matters which form the substance of a series of justiciable complaints under law with matters described as a trade dispute in the voluntarist framework.”

In this regard, it is noted that the purpose of the Commission in regard to disputes referred under the Industrial Relations Acts is to offer a practical solution to a dispute, within a voluntarist framework, in an effort to resolve the issues between the parties. In consideration of the authorities cited above, it is noted that the parties are entirely and irrevocably at odds with each other, with both parties alleging various legislative breaches against the other. In such circumstances, it is difficult to envision any practical, workable solution to the trade dispute that may result from this investigation.

In such circumstances, I find that it would be inappropriate to issue any recommendation in favour of either party to the dispute.

Trade Dispute, Justiciable Legislation