ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00013521
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A former Relationship Manager | A Bank |
Complaint:
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Schedule 3 of the Employees (Provision of Information & Consultation) Act, 2006 | CA-00018090-001 | 22/03/2018 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 27/07/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015, this complaint was assigned to me by the Director General. A hearing was arranged for July 27th 2018, for the parties to have an opportunity to be heard and to submit evidence relevant to the complaint.
The complainant was unrepresented and was accompanied by his wife. For the respondent, the solicitor with responsibility for employee relations and a member of the HR team attended.
Background:
The complainant in this case retired in January 2016 and he said that his complaint relates to matters that occurred between 2010 and 2015. At the opening of the hearing, he said that his complaint is about penalisation, but not in relation to any role he may have had as an employee representative, as provided for in section 13 of the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006. He accepts that he submitted his complaint under the wrong legislation and he is considering his options with regard to submitting a new complaint. |
Findings and Conclusions:
It is clear that the complainant did not intend to submit a complaint under the Information and Consultation Act. A further issue arises in respect of the fact that this complaint was submitted to the WRC three years after the incidents complained about. Section 6 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 sets out the timeframe within which complaints may be submitted for adjudication: “…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” An extension of time is provided for at subsection 8 of this section: “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.” As the maximum extension of time permitted is six months after the expiration of the first six months from the date of a contravention, I am prevented from considering this complaint, even if it had been properly submitted under the correct legislation. |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
As this complaint has been submitted out of time, I decide that I have no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matters complained of. For this reason, I conclude the investigation and find against the complainant. |
Dated: 01 August 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne