ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00056994
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Mary McConnell | Bailieborough Swimming and Leisure Centre CLG |
Representatives | Represented Herself | Anne O'Connell Solicitors |
Complaints:
Act | Complaint Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Sick Leave Act 2022 | CA-00069276-001 | 13/02/2025 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 | CA-00069276-002 | 13/02/2025 |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 | CA-00069276-003 | 13/02/2025 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 04/12/2025
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Procedure:
In accordance with section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, these complaints were assigned to me by the Director General. I conducted a remote hearing on December 4th 2025 and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard and to present evidence relevant to the complaints. The complainant, Ms Mary McConnell, represented herself at the hearing with the support of a friend, Ms Edith Kennedy. Ms McConnell’s employer, Baileborough Swimming and Leisure Centre CLG, was represented by Ms Laura Killelea of Anne O’Connell Solicitors. Ms Killelea was accompanied by Ms Abigail Ansell. Ms Mairéad Galligan, the chairperson of the board of directors of Baileborough Swimming and Leisure Centre attended the hearing with another director, Ms Anna Sheridan.
While the parties are named in this decision, from here on, I will refer to Ms McConnell as “the complainant” and to Baileborough Swimming and Leisure Centre CLG as “the respondent.”
Background:
On March 23rd 1999, the complainant commenced employment as a manager in the respondent’s swimming and leisure centre. On the date of the hearing of these complaints, her annual salary was €48,732. She is not in receipt of wages however, because she has been on various forms of leave since October 2020. She was initially on carer’s leave, and then on maternity leave and parental leave. Since September 6th 2023, she has been absent due to illness. On February 13th 2025, the complainant submitted three complaints to the WRC. Under the Sick Leave Act 2022, she claims that has not been paid sick pay since her absence commenced. In breach of s.22 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, she claims that she did not receive public holiday pay during various periods of leave from March 2020. Thirdly, in breach of s.19 of the 1997 Act, she complains that she has not received holiday pay since the leisure centre closed due to Covid-19 in March 2020. She claims that she is owed holidays from 2019 up to 2025. The respondent’s position is that these complaints are outside the time limit for submitting complaints to the WRC, or that they are misconceived. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
Ms Kennedy informed me that the complainant was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and she continued to work during her treatment. When she was on maternity leave in 2022, she came into work to do the payroll. During Covid-19, she took carer’s leave. The complainant said that she had a meeting with the chairperson recently and she was asked when she would be back at work. She then went to her local Citizens’ Information Centre for advice and, based on that advice, she submitted these complaints. CA-00069276-001: Complaint under the Sick Leave Act 2022 Ms Kennedy said that the complainant was issued with a contract of employment in 1999 which provides that she is entitled to six weeks’ sick pay every 12 months. She said that the complainant has received the statutory sick leave pay to which she is entitled, but she hasn’t received her contractual sick pay. CA-00069276-002: Complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 - Public Holidays On the e-complaint form that she submitted to the WRC, the complainant claims that she is entitled to be paid for the public holidays that fell each year since went on leave due to Covid-19 in March 2020. CA-00069276-003: Complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 – Annual Leave The complainant claims that she is entitled to annual leave days which accrued since before she went on leave due to Covid-19 in March 2020. She claims that pay for more than 150 days remains due to her since that date. She also claims that some of the days were awarded in lieu of a pay increase she did not take in 2017. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent is a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee and is managed by a voluntary management board. It is run for the benefit of its members and the for the community. Many local national and secondary schools use the facilities of the centre to deliver their fitness-related curriculum. CA-00069276-001: Complaint under the Sick Leave Act 2022 In her submission, Ms Killelea said that the first indication that the respondent had of a complaint about sick pay was in the complaint form submitted to the WRC on February 13th 2025. She said that, in accordance with s.41(7) of the Sick Leave Act, the respondent should have been given an opportunity to reply to the matter, before it was referred to the WRC as a complaint. The non-payment of statutory sick pay to the complainant was an oversight which has now been corrected. In accordance with s.5 of the Act of 2022, for the leave year 2023, the complainant was paid €330.00 for three days’ statutory sick pay at a rate of €110.00 per day. For the leave years 2024 and 2025, the complainant has been paid €550.00 for each year, equivalent to five days’ statutory sick pay at a rate of €110.00 per day. Ms Killelea pointed out that the submission of complaints about the failure to pay statutory sick leave pay in 2023 and 2024 are outside the time limit prescribed at s.41(6) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The respondent accepts however that, due to an oversight, the complainant did not receive these payments and the issue has now been corrected. Addressing the complainant’s claim that she has a contractual entitlement to sick pay over and above the legal entitlement set out in the Act of 2022, Ms Killelea said that such a claim is not relevant under that Act. She said that the respondent has no information regarding any sick pay provision in the complainant’s contract, and such an entitlement would be unusual in the organisation. CA-00069276-002: Complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 - Public Holidays Ms Killelea submitted that, as the complainant has been absent on sick leave since September 6th 2023, she has no entitlement to the public holidays that occurred in the six months prior to the date on which she submitted her complaints to the WRC. Five public holidays occurred during that period. Ms Killelea referred to s.21(5) of the 1997 Act which provides that an employee may not be entitled to the benefit of a public holiday in certain circumstances which are set out in the Third Schedule of the same Act. The Third Schedule, at s.2, provides that an employee who is absent from work due to illness for more than 26 weeks immediately before a public holiday is not entitled to the benefit of the public holiday. CA-00069276-003: Complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 – Annual Leave Ms Killelea submitted that any claim related to annual leave can only address the statutory entitlement to 20 days’ annual leave which is provided for at s.19 of the Act of 1997. The complainant is on certified sick leave and therefore, cannot benefit from her entitlement to holidays. Apart from circumstances when an employee resigns or when their employment is terminated, Ms Killelea submitted that Article 7 of the European Directive on Working Time prohibits the replacement of annual leave with a paid allowance. Ms Killelea said that the complainant’s long-term sick leave means that there is no mechanism for the respondent to allow her to take her accrued annual leave. When she returns to work, she can avail of her outstanding holiday entitlements. |
Findings and Conclusions:
CA-00069276-001: Complaint under the Sick Leave Act 2022 From the evidence submitted at the hearing, it is apparent that the complainant has received her entitlement to sick leave pay for 2023, 2024 and 2025. Her complaint about her entitlement to contractual sick leave cannot be investigated under the heading of the Sick Leave Act 2022. CA-00069276-002: Complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 – Public Holidays As she has been absent on sick leave since September 2023, in accordance with s.2 of the Third Schedule of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, the complainant has no entitlement to public holidays that occurred in the 12 months before she submitted this complaint to the WRC. CA-00069276-003: Complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 – Annual Leave The complainant has accrued annual leave during the period of her absence. When she is certified as fit to return to work, in consultation with her employer about the timing, she may take some or all of that leave before she returns or in the months after she returns. Annual leave accrued and not taken may only be paid as wages when an employee resigns or retires or when their employment is terminated for some other reason. |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
Based on the findings and conclusions I have set out above, I decide that the three complaints submitted by the complainant are not well founded. |
Dated: 10/02/2026
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Key Words:
Sick pay, public holidays, annual leave |