ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference:  ADJ-00054069

Parties:

Complaints:

Date of Adjudication Hearing:  12/08/2025

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer:  Gaye Cunningham

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015  and/or Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2015,and/or Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997following 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.

Background:

The complaints submitted are that the Complainant was unfairly dismissed without due process and that he was not paid for annual leave accrued at the end of his employment.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The Complainant was employed by the respondent company as a Driver from 1 November 2012 to 10 September 2024 on a rate of €650 per week.  He stated that he was fired from his job on 10 September 2024 when Ms O’D and Ms R called him into the yard and shouted at him that he was no longer required due to various reasons (which he contended were not true).  They told him that his lorry was not being kept clean and that he was not doing his job properly. 

He further claims 2 weeks pay for annual leave taken in 2024 but not paid.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The Respondent did not attend the hearing.

Findings and Conclusions:

CA-00067581-001           Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

Statutory Instrument S.I. 146/2000 provides for the basic requirements for employers to allow employee due process when engaging in disciplinary procedures up to and including dismissal.  These include the right of the employee to be heard and to appeal any sanction.  In this case, based on the uncontested statements of the Complainant, I find that he was dismissed with no due process or fair procedures.

CA-00066096-002           Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

The Complainant stated that at the time of his dismissal he was due holiday pay for 2 weeks and this sum amounting to €1,300 was not paid.

Section 19 (1) of the 1997 Act provides that  … an employee shall be entitled to paid annual leave (in this Act referred to as “ annual leave”) equal to—

(a) 4 working weeks in a leave year in which he or she works at least 1,365 hours (unless it is a leave year in which he or she changes employment)”.

 (b) one-third of a working week for each month in the leave year in which he or she works at least 117 hours, or

(c) 8 per cent. of the hours he or she works in a leave year (but subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks):

Provided that if more than one of the preceding paragraphs is applicable in the case concerned and the period of annual leave of the employee, determined in accordance with each of those paragraphs, is not identical, the annual leave to which the employee shall be entitled shall be equal to whichever of those periods is the greater.

Section 23(1) provides:

Where        (a) an employee ceases to be employed, and

                    (b) the whole or any portion of the annual leave in respect of the current leave year or, in case the cesser of employment occurs during the first half of that year, in respect of that year, the previous leave year or both those years, remains to be                           granted to the employee,

the employee shall, as compensation for the loss of that annual leave, be paid by his or her employer an amount equal to the pay, calculated at the normal weekly rate or, as the case may be, at a rate proportionate to the normal weekly rate, that he or she would have received had he or she been granted that annual leave.

I find the Complainant was entitled to the sum of €1,300 on cessation of his employment.

CA-00066096-004           Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

This is a duplicate claim of CA-00067581-001.

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.

CA-00067581-001           Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

Based on the findings and reasons above, I have decided that the Complainant was unfairly dismissed and I award him the sum of €2,500.

Section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions of that Act.

CA-00066096-002           Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

Based on the findings and reasons above, I have decided that the Complainant is entitled to the sum of €1,300 for the failure to provide him with compensation for annual leave on cessation of his employment.

CA-00066096-004           Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

This is a duplicate claim of CA-00067581-001.

Dated: 19th of November 2025

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer:  Gaye Cunningham

Key Words: