Complainant

Respondent

Parties

James  Griffith

Mel Farrell Fencing Ltd

Representatives

Brendan Noone Connellan Solicitors. Derek Ryan BL

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-00073012-001

01/07/2025

The Complainant alleges that he was not given his terms and conditions of employment within the Statutory period or at all. The Respondent denies the allegation.

James Griffith took the Affirmation and gave his evidence as follows:

 The Complainant commenced working for the Respondent on 01.09.2023. He was a fencing labourer. He had responded to an advertisement and shortly afterwards was offered the position. His hours were 8am-5pm Monday to Friday. He did not receive a contract, nor did he receive any correspondence in relation to his terms and conditions of employment. He had a conversation with Mr. Farrell prior to taking up the role and agreed his salary at € 500 per week net. He worked approximately 39 hours per week. The Respondent states that he got a written statement of his terms and conditions in late December 2023 or early January 2024. That is denied by the Complainant.

Mel Farrell took the affirmation and gave his evidence as follows:

He placed an advertisement in Indeed. The Complainant replied to that. He met with him and offered him a job. That was in September 2023. Some time at the end of December 2023 or early January  2024 he gave the Complainant an envelope with a health and safety statement and with that were his terms and conditions of employment. He got the template off the internet. It was a basic one setting out his hours of work, place of work, pay etc. He asked him to take it home, read it, sign it and return it to him. He never returned it.

The Complainant asserts that he was not provided with his terms and conditions of employment. In response, the Respondent testified that, around late December or early January 2024, he provided the Complainant with a Health and Safety Statement, which included the terms and conditions of employment. However, the Respondent acknowledged that these terms were not provided within the statutory timeframe.

A significant discrepancy existed between the parties regarding this matter. I found both the Complainant and the Respondent to be credible witnesses. Nevertheless, the responsibility for providing written terms of employment rests with the Respondent, in accordance with Section 3(1) of the Act. The Respondent failed to produce any documentary evidence to substantiate his claim that the terms were provided to the Complainant. Furthermore, Mr. Farrell admitted that the terms were not delivered within the statutory period.

Given these facts, I find the complaint to be well founded. While I accept the Respondent's oral testimony that the Complainant eventually received the basic terms of employment, this occurred outside the prescribed time frame. As such, I am awarding the Complainant compensation in the amount of two weeks' remuneration amounting to €1,150.00, in accordance with Section 7(2)(d) of the Act.

The complaint is well founded. I award the Complainant compensation in the amount of € 1,150.00