Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Margaret  Downes

Gerry Smyth, Hydrotech Water Supplies Ltd

Representatives

Self-Represented

Self-Represented

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

CA-00076837-001

28/10/2025

This matter was heard by way of remote hearing pursuant to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2020 and S.I. No. 359/2020 which designates the WRC as a body empowered to hold remote hearings.

The complainant stated that she started working for the respondent in 2018 when it was called Hydrotech Water Services.  She was employed with the respondent until 21 September 2025 when she was made redundant.

She stated that there was an issue with PRSI payments being made by the respondent

The respondent stated that he accepted that no PRSI payments were made for the respondent company but noted that this is an accounting issue and that he was trying to pay the Social Welfare payments at present.

The witness stated that the complainant was made redundant from Hydrotech Water Services when the respondent company was established, noting that she is entitled to redundancy from that entity.

The complainant submitted that she started work with the respondent on 8 January 2018.  However, the respondent gave evidence that the named respondent - Hydrotech Water Supplies Ltd., is a completely different entity from the company that formerly employed the complainant, Hydrotech Water Services.  He stated that it came into being in or around mid-June 2024, however the Companies Registration Office indicates that it came into being on 11 September 2024. He confirmed that there was no work available for the complainant from the end of Summer 2025 and it agreed to the redundancy following receipt of the RP50 form.

The respondent indicated that it is currently paying over the PRSI contributions of the complainant.

Section 7(2) of the Redundancy Payments Act states as follows:

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if for one or more reasons not related to the employee concerned the dismissal is attributable wholly or mainly to—

(a) the fact that his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed, or

(b) the fact that the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where he was so employed have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish, or

(c) the fact that his employer has decided to carry on the business with fewer or no employees, whether by requiring the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) to be done by other employees or otherwise, or

(d) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done in a different manner for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained, or

(e) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done by a person who is also capable of doing other work for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained,

Having regard to the foregoing, and to the evidence provided by the complaint, which was corroborated by the witness for the respondent, I am satisfied that his employment came to an end by way of redundancy in accordance with the Act on 21 September 2025.

Having considered all the relevant information provided by the complainant, I am satisfied that the complainant has established that she is entitled to a redundancy payment in accordance with the Acts.  My decision is to allow the complainant’s appeal against the decision of the employer.

Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 – 2012 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.

I have decided that the complainant is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment based on the following criteria:

Date of Commencement: 11 September 2024

Date of Termination: 21 September 2025

Gross Weekly Pay: €354

This award is made subject to the complainant having been in insurable employment under the Social Welfare Acts during the relevant period.

Redundancy Payments Act – entitlement to payment established