Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

Cleaner

Pharmaceutical Company

Representatives

Self

 No show

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

IR - SC - 00004682

09/07/2025

The dispute relates to an incident at the worker’s place of work where she is employed as a worker by a contract cleaning company. The wrong alleged by this worker where she was moved from the site, she believes was on the instruction of the client company. It is based on that grievance that she takes the case against this third party.

The third party wrote to the Commission to state that they were not the employer.

The worker alleges that she was unfairly treated by the client company arising from a workplace investigation and in her complaint form stated the following:

I was told to provide my swipe card until the investigation was over, which I did, however, when the investigation came to a decision, I was told I would be not paid anymore and I was to be removed from the site and reassigned another role elsewhere

The worker has long service at the site.

The named employer wrote to the Commission and stated:

Good Morning, I can confirm that we received complaint CA- 00073267, however the complainant is not an employee of  redacted Ireland. I have cc’d the complainant’s employe

The contract cleaning company also wrote to state:

Good Morning All, I can confirm that redacted are the employer of the complainant and that we also received a claim from them. Please let me know if you require anything further.

In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the parties.

A trade dispute is defined by the Industrial Relations Act 1946 at Section 3 as follows:-

" ....... any dispute or difference between employers and workers or between workers and workers connected with the employment or non-employment, or the terms of the employment, or with the conditions of employment, of any person"

The term "worker" is defined by Section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 as:-

" In the Industrial Relations Acts, 1946 to 1976, and this Part, "worker" means any person aged 15 years or more who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether it be expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it be a contract of service or of apprenticeship or a contract personally to execute any work or labour including......"

The Labour Court addressed matters arising from these statutory provisions in LCR19705 – TF Productions and a Worker [2010] wherein it stated:

The ambit of this definition was considered by the High Court in Building and Allied Trades Union and Another v The Labour Court and Others, High Court Unreported, Murphy J. 15th April 2005. This was an application by way of Judicial Review to quash an order of this Court varying a Registered Agreement so as to incorporate, inter alia, a clause dealing with sub-contractors. It was contended that the effect of the proposed variation was to extend the scope of the Agreement by including sub-contractors, who were not workers, within its terms. In rejecting this contention, Murphy J. considered the meaning of the term "worker" by reference to the definition of that term contained at Section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990.

Murphy J. pointed out that this was a wider definition than that contained at Section 8 of the same Act and is not confined in its scope to those employed under a contract of service. the Judge continued at page 36 of the Judgement:-

"The former definition, which was the relevant definition for the purpose of this application refers, in addition to a contract of service or of apprenticeship, to a "contract personally to execute any work or labour". This would seem to imply a contract for services and, accordingly, to include an individual worker acting as contractor or sub-contractor. "Person" is not defined but is limited to persons aged 15 years or more and accordingly, would not appear to include legal persons, such as companies or partnerships."

In this case the Court was told that the Claimant was engaged under contract to provide a service to the Employer and that she was contractually obligated to provide that service personally. Moreover, she is neither a Company nor a partnership. In these circumstances the Court is satisfied that the Claimant is a worker within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 and that she is a proper party to a trade dispute within the statutory meaning of that term. Accordingly, the dispute is properly before the Court for investigation and recommendation.”

The worker is not engaged personally to carry on cleaning duties for this company and is an employee of a large cleaning company who is her employer who in turn are contracted by this client company to provide cleaning services.

The term "worker" is defined by Section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 as:-

" In the Industrial Relations Acts, 1946 to 1976, and this Part, "worker" means any person aged 15 years or more who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether it be expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it be a contract of service or of apprenticeship or a contract personally to execute any work or labour including......"

This worker does not meet the definition of worker in Section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990  and therefore I have no jurisdiction to hear this trade dispute.

No jurisdiction-wrong employer-cleaning contractor