ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00047518
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Colm O Mordha | Securitas Security Services Ireland Limited |
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | {text} | {text} |
Representatives | Self-Represented | Hugh O’Connell B.L. instructed by Danny Ryan B.L., General Counsel, Securitas Security Services Ireland Limited |
Complaints:
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-00058404-001 | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 | CA-00058404-002 | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 | CA-00058404-003 WITHDRAWN | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 | CA-00058404-004
| 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 28 of the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act 2005 | CA-00058404-006 | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Schedule 2 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 | CA-00058404-007 | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 131 of 2003) | CA-00058404-008 | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 131 of 2003) | CA-00058404-009 | 19/08/2023 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 131 of 2003) | CA-00058404-010 | 19/08/2023 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 26/05/2025
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Christina Ryan
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 and/or Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 – 2015 following the referral of the complaints to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaints and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaints.
The parties are named in the heading of the Decision. For ease of reference, for the remainder of the document I will refer to Colm O Mordha as “the Complainant” and Securitas Security Services Ireland Limited as “the Respondent”.
The Complainant attended the hearing and presented as a litigant in person. The Respondent attended the hearing and was represented by Hugh O’Donnell B.L. instructed by Danny Ryan B.L., the Respondent’s General Counsel.
In advance of the hearing the Complainant applied for the hearing to be postponed for 6 months on the basis that the parties to the within complaints have a similar matter before the High Court. The Respondent objected to the application for a postponement. The application was refused on the basis that no exceptional circumstances and substantial reasons existed to grant a postponement.
The Complainant appealed the decision to refuse his postponement application. He did not provide any further information or documentation in support of his application. Having considered the matter the decision of the Adjudication Officer to refuse the postponement request was upheld and the appeal was not granted.
At the commencement of the hearing on the 26th May 2025 the Complainant applied for the hearing of his WRC complaints to be adjourned for 6 months on the basis that there is a similar matter before the High Court. In response to questions from the Adjudication Officer the Complainant confirmed that he was seeking damages for defamation in the High Court proceedings, that he was withdrawing complaint CA-00058404-003 and that he was proceeding with all other WRC complaints. He stated that his statutory claims before the WRC and his High Court proceedings for defamation were directly connected and that his complaints all arise out of the employment relationship. He provided no further information and no documentation in support of his application. The Respondent opposed the application for an adjournment. Having considered the Complainant’s application I found that there was insufficient evidence to ground the application for an adjournment based on exceptional circumstances and substantial reasons. In circumstances where the threshold test was not met I refused the application for an adjournment.
I then proceeded to seek to address the preliminary issues raised by the Respondent at which point the Complainant indicated that he was leaving the hearing room. Despite being repeatedly invited to participate in the hearing the Complainant refused to do so and he left the hearing room. Accordingly, the Complainant did not proffer any oral evidence in support of his complaints.
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaints in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the unfair dismissal claim consisting of a grant of redress in accordance with section 7 of the 1977 Act.
For the reasons set out above I decide that these complaints are not well-founded. |
Dated: 30/05/2025
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Christina Ryan
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