PWD2425

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00045920 (CA-00054800-001)

BACKGROUND:

This is an appeal of an Adjudication Officer’s Decision made pursuant to Section 7(1) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 on 5 January 2024. The appeal was heard by the Labour Court on 6 March 2024 in accordance with Section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015.  The following is the Court’s Decision:

DECISION:

This matter comes before the Court as an appeal by Cyril Murray, (the Appellant), against the decision of an Adjudication Officer given in his complaint against JJ Fleming & Co. Ltd (the Respondent) made under the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 (the Act.

The Adjudication Officer decided that the complaint was, having regard to the provisions of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 (the Act of 2015) at Section 41, made out of time.

The hearing

The Respondent submitted that the within complaint was made on 27th January 2023, which was almost 23 months after the termination of the Appellant’s employment of 15th February 2021.

The Appellant submitted that the complaint was made within six months of a decision of an Adjudication Officer in a separate complaint made on 21st November 2022 under a separate enactment.

The Court proposed to the parties that it would hear submissions in relation to the issue of time limits applicable as a preliminary matter and that it would decide this matter before hearing the parties in relation to the substantive complaint. Both parties confirmed to the Court that they were satisfied that the Court should proceed in that manner.

Law relevant to the preliminary matter

The Act of 2015 at Section 41, in relevant part, makes provision as follows:

Presentation of complaints and referral of disputes

41. (1) An employee (in this Act referred to as a “complainant”) or, where the employee so consents, a specified person may present a complaint to the Director General that the employee’s employer has contravened a provision specified in Part 1or 2of Schedule 5 in relation to the employee and, where a complaint is so presented, the Director General shall, subject to section 39, refer the complaint for adjudication by an adjudication officer.

(2) An employee or an employer (in this Act also referred to as a “complainant”) or, where the complainant so consents, a specified person, may refer a dispute as to the entitlements of the employee under an enactment specified in Part 3 of Schedule 5 to the Director General, and, where a dispute is so referred, the Director General shall, subject to section 39, refer the dispute for adjudication by an adjudication officer.

(6) Subject to subsection (8), an adjudication officer shall not entertain a complaint referred to him or her under this section if it has been presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates.

(8) An adjudication officer may entertain a complaint or dispute to which this section applies presented or referred to the Director General after the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (6) or (7) (but not later than 6 months after such expiration), as the case may be, if he or she is satisfied that the failure to present the complaint or refer the dispute within that period was due to reasonable cause.

Discussion and conclusion

It is common case that the employment of the Appellant terminated on 15th February 2021. It is also common case that the within complaint was made to the Workplace Relations Commission on 27th January 2023.

There is no dispute between the parties that any alleged breach of the Act must have occurred, if such a breach occurred at all, on or before 15th February 2021.

The Court concludes that, by operation of the law at sections 41(6) and 41(8) of the Act of 2015, the Court is statute barred from entertaining the within complaint of the Appellant.

Decision

The within appeal fails and the decision of the Adjudication Officer is affirmed.

The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Kevin Foley
CC	______________________
13 March 2024	Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary.