Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Jana Gnusinskaja

Gmc Retail Limited

Representatives

Conor MacGuill Solicitors

ESA Consultants

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994

CA-00063339-001

07/05/2024

The Complainant commenced her employment as a Store Manager with the Respondent on 30 August 2022. She tendered her resignation on 2 May 2024. 

She stated that she did not receive a written statement of her core terms and conditions of employment until 23 September 2022, outside of the five days stipulated in the Act. She also stated that she did not receive the Employee Handbook which had been referenced in the written statement.

The Complainant stated in the first instance that she did not receive a written statement of her core terms and conditions of employment until 23 September 2022, outside of the five days stipulated in the Act.

She further asserted that she did not receive the Employee Handbook which had been referenced in the written statement of her core terms and conditions of employment. She stated that the handbook contained the Respondent’s disciplinary procedures and asserted that the fact that these procedures had not been provided to her meant that her ability to defend herself during a disciplinary hearing on 8 February 2024 was impacted.

The Respondent stated that there is no requirement under the Act to furnish the Complainant with disciplinary procedures.

The Applicable law:

Section 3 of the Act in its relevant parts provides: -

(1) An employer shall, not later than 2 months after the commencement of an employee's employment with the employer, give or cause to be given to the employee a statement in writing containing the following particulars of the terms of the employee's employment, that is to say—

(fa) a reference to any registered employment agreement or employment regulation order which applies to the employee and confirmation of where the employee may obtain a copy of such agreement or order,

…(h) the length of the intervals between the times at which remuneration is paid, whether a week, a month or any other interval,

…. (i) the principle that the work schedule is variable, the number of guaranteed paid hours and the remuneration for work performed in addition to those guaranteed hours.

Section 3 (1A) of the Act further states:

3.—(1A) Without prejudice to subsection (1), an employer shall, not later than 5 days after the commencement of an employee’s employment with the employer, give or cause to be given to the employee a statement in writing containing the following particulars of the terms of the employee’s employment, that is to say:

(a) the full names of the employer and the employee;

(b) the address of the employer in the State or, where appropriate, the address of the principal place of the relevant business of the employer in the State or the registered office (within the meaning of the Companies Act 2014);

(c) in the case of a temporary contract of employment, the expected duration thereof or, if the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the date on which the contract expires;

(d) the remuneration, including the initial basic amount, any other component elements, if applicable, indicated separately, the frequency and method of payment of the remuneration to which the employee is entitled and the pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000;

(e) the number of hours which the employer reasonably expects the employee to work—

(i) per normal working day, and

(ii) per normal working week;

(f) where sections 4B to 4E (in so far as they are in operation) of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 apply to the employer, the employer’s policy on the manner in which tips or gratuities and mandatory charges (within the meaning of section 1 of that Act) are treated,

(g) the place of work or, where there is no fixed or main place of work, a statement specifying that the employee is employed at various places or is free to determine his or her place of work or to work at various places;

(h) either—

(i) the title, grade, nature or category of work for which the employee is employed, or

(ii) a brief specification or description of the work;

(i) the date of commencement of the employee’s contract of employment;

(j) any terms or conditions relating to hours of work (including overtime);

(k) where a probationary period applies, its duration and conditions.]

(1B) Where a statement under subsection (1A) contains an error or omission, the statement shall be regarded as complying with the provisions of that subsection if it is shown that the error or omission was made by way of a clerical mistake or was otherwise made accidentally and in good faith”.

I further note that the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 at section 41(6) and section 41(8) provides as follows in respect of time limits: 

“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.

“An adjudication officer may entertain a complaint or dispute to which this section applies presented or referred to the Director General after the period referred to in subsection (6) or (7) (but not later than six 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.” 

Findings:

In the first instance, I note that there is no requirement under the Terms of Employment Information Act that disciplinary procedures be provided to an employee.

I further note that the alleged breach of the Act in respect of the Respondent’s failure to provide the Complainant with a statement of her core terms of employment cannot have occurred any later than 4 September 2022. This complaint was not referred to the WRC until 7 May 2024 however and is outside of the time limits stipulated in the Workplace Relations Act 2015 as set out above.

Considering all of the foregoing, I find that this complaint is not well founded.

I find that this complaint is not well founded for the reasons set out above.