ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Decision Reference: ADJ-00001863
Complaint(s)/Dispute(s) for Resolution:
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 | CA-00002567-001 | 12/02/2016 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 25/04/2016
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emer O'Shea
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 [and/or Section 8(1B) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, and/or Section 9 of the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act, 1984, and/or Section 79 of the Employment Equality Act, 1998, and/or Section 25 of the Equal Status Act, 2000] following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).
Complainant’s Submission and Presentation:
The claimant was employed as a Receptionist/Secretary with the respondent from the 1st.Sept. 2007 to the 31st.July 2015.She worked 35 hours per week and her net pay was €1,450 per month.
She submitted that the termination of her employment was by reason of redundancy and that she was entitled to statutory redundancy under the Act. Her complaint was received by the Commission on the 2nd.Feb.2016
The claimant gave an outline of the contractual arrangements between GPs and the HSE for the provision of services to medical card holders – she set out a chronology of her employment since commencement .In August 2007 the respondent was awarded the GMS contract for her Health Centre – he became her employer and furnished her with a contract which was submitted in evidence.The respondent travelled to Australia in 2013 and employed a number of locum GPs to provide cover during that period.He returned in April 2015 and informed the claimant that he was terminating his GMS contract and a locum would be working the notice period.In July 2015 , the respondent advised the claimant that she was not entitled to redundancy and her employment was terminated on the 31st.July 2015.When the locum GP contacted the HSE on behalf of the claimant he was advised that GMS contracts are statutory contracts that cannot be transferred and consequently are outside the remit of TUPE regulations.
The claimant invoked the provisions of UD354/2003 in support of her claim for redundancy – in that case the EAT had determined that practise secretaries employment ceases when the GMS contract ceases.She also invoked the provisions of RP2631/2011 where the Tribunal found that when the HSE issued a new contract covering the same area and patients , the new contract was unconnected with and had no similarity to the previous contract and found that TUPE did not apply.The complaint for statutory redundancy in this case was upheld.
Respondent’s Submission and Presentation:
The respondent did not attend and was not represented at the hearing.
Decision:
Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
Decision:
On the basis of the uncontested evidence of the claimant and the EAT determinations invoked by her , I find the complaint to be well founded and require the respondent to pay the claimant her statutory redundancy entitlements within 4 weeks of the date of this decision.
Dated: 12th July 2016