TED2518

TE/24/82

DECISION  NO.  TED2518

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

Chairman:	Ms Connolly
Employer Member:	Mr O'Brien
Worker Member:	Ms Hannick

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00046079 (CA-00056547-005)

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer's Decision to the Labour Court on the 21 August 2024.

A Labour Court Hearing took place on the 27 August 2025.

The following is the Labour Court's Decision.

DECISION:

This is an appeal by Peter Ogurčák (“the Complainant”) of a decision of an Adjudication Officer under the Terms of Employment Information Act 1994 (the Act) in relation to a complaint made by him by against his former employer Mercato Limited (“the Respondent”).

The Adjudication Officer decided that the complaint was not well founded.

Peter Ogurčák appealed that decision to the Labour Court. A hearing of the appeal together with three linked appeals EDA2562,TED2519 and DWT2537 was conducted by remote hearing on 27 August 2025. Peter Ogurčák and Alan Leahy, a director with the Respondent company, gave evidence under affirmation. 

1. Background

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent as an IT engineer on 4 December 2014.  In July 2021, by agreement with the Respondent, the Complainant relocated to Slovakia to work from his home office.  The Complainant resigned his employment on 26 December 2022.

The Complainant submits that he did not receive a written statement of his terms and conditions of employment as required at s.3 of the Act. The Respondent refutes that assertion.

2. Summary Position of the Complainant

The Complainant gave evidence that he never received a written statement of his terms of employment. He had no recollection of ever receiving a written document. 

3. Summary Position of the Respondent

The Respondent submits that the complainant was issued with a contract of employment in December 2014 and that an employer is not obligated to retain a signed copy of a contract of employment.  It further submits that a WRC inspection was undertaken at the company premises in July 2023 and all employment records found to be in order.

4. Deliberations

The Terms of Employment (Information) Act provides that an employer shall, not later than one month after the commencement of an employee’s employment, give or cause to be given to an employee a statement in writing containing particulars of his or her terms of employment.

In this case, the Court was faced with a conflict of evidence, with the Complainant submitting that he was not provided with a statement of terms of employment. The Respondent refuted that assertion but provided no evidence to support its assertion that it provided the Complainant with a written statement as required at s.3 of the Act.

Having regard to that fact, the Court on balance accepts the evidence of the Complainant.

Accordingly, the Court determines that the Complainant was not provided with a statement of terms and condition as required by the Act. As a result, the Court finds that the complaint is well founded.

The Act provides that the Court may order an employer to pay to an employee compensation of such an amount (if any) as it considers just and equitable having regard to all the circumstances but not exceeding 4 weeks remuneration.

Having regard to all the circumstances, the Court measures the appropriate level of compensation which is just and equitable having regard to all the circumstances to be two weeks’ pay.

Based on the submission regarding the salary applicable to the Complainant at the time of the termination of his employment, the Court calculates that two weeks’ remuneration amounts to €1360.

Decision

The Court finds that the complaint is well founded.

The decision of the Adjudication Officer is set aside.

The Court orders the Respondent to pay compensation to the Complainant the sum of €1360.

The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Katie Connolly
AL	______________________
12 September 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Ms Amy Leonard, Court Secretary.