LCR23312

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Referral under Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

BACKGROUND:

The Worker referred this case to the Labour Court on 21 July 2025 in accordance with Section 20 (1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 and agreed to be bound by the Court’s Recommendation.

A Labour Court hearing took place on 17 July 2026.

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RECOMMENDATION:

Background to the Referral

The Worker was employed by Laguna Nurseries Limited (‘the Company’) as a General Operative from 5 May 2025 until his employment was summarily terminated on 6 June 2025.

The Complaints

In his written submissions to the Court, the Worker has listed a number of complaints under the following headings: ‘Wages and pay’, ‘Accommodation’ and ‘Social Obligations’. He informed the Court that he is seeking financial remedies for ‘Unfair Dismissal’, ‘Lack of Written Contract’, ‘Breach of Minimum Notice’ and Outstanding Arrears’.

The Worker’s Submission

The Worker submits that his former employer committed ‘gross breaches of Irish employment law’ by:

• Systematically failing to pay him for all hours worked ‘including overtime (exceeding 48 hours per week), weekend work at the statutory premium rate, public holidays, and accrued annual leave’;
• For the first 21 days of his employment, providing him with ‘unsanitary living conditions, while a weekly rent of €70 was deducted outside of the official payroll without any tenancy agreement or transparency’;
• Failing to provide him with health insurance or assistance with his application for a PPSN and failing to ensure ‘full and timely PRSI contributions’.

The Employer’s Submission

It is submitted on behalf of the Employer that the Worker was paid in full for all hours he worked and copy payslips, which were not disputed by the Worker, were exhibited in support of this submission. It was also submitted that issues in relation to obtaining PPSN and the length of time that the Worker was retained on Emergency Tax were outside the Employer’s control but that the Employer had dealt expeditioulsy at all times with the relevant statutory bodies in connection with the Worker. Finally, the Employer submitted that the Worker was engaged through a Moldovan employment agency and that the agreement between the agency and the Employer provided that the Worker’s employment would be initially on a trial basis and if the Employer was dissatisfied with his performance his employment could be terminated without any fee payable to the agency.

The Employer’s representative told the Court that the Worker proved to be unsatisfactory and his employment was, therefore, terminated. The representative did not deny that the Worker’s dismissal was summary and immediate and that no procedures had been followed. The representative also told the Court that the Worker had been given a statement of core terms of employment by the agency before he commenced employment.

Discussion and Decision

The vast majority of the issues complained of by the Worker in his written submissions to the Court are matters in respect of which the Oireachtas has provided a statutory remedy and which, in the Court’s view, the Worker ought to have availed himself of instead of seeking to utilise a section 13 referral as an alternative means to litigate those matters.

Secondly, the Worker complains of issues related to his tax and social welfare status in respect of which the Court has no role to play.

The principal matter which the Court does have concern about arising from the Worker’s submission is the manner

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in which his employment was abruptly terminated, as conceded by the Employer. It does not appear that the Employer made any attempts to engage with the Worker in relation to any perceived shortcomings in his performance and simply made a decision to summarily dismiss him on foot of an arrangement in place between it and a third party.

The Court finds that the actions of the Employer in this regard were devoid of fair procedures and natural justice. The Court recommends payment of one week’s wages to the Worker in compensation.

The Court was furnished with payslips for five pay periods for the Worker covering weeks 19 to 24 inclusive. The total paid to the Worker over the period of his employment was €3,370.25 gross. The Court, therefore, finds that the Worker’s average weekly gross wage was €561.71 and it directs the Employer to pay this amount to the Worker.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
TH	______________________
27/07/2026	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be in writing and addressed to Ms Therese Hickey, Court Secretary.

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