Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Alana  Loughran

Good Council Parish Project Limited

Representatives

Alana Loughran

Hugh Condron

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00072555-001

18/06/2025

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 30 and 31 of the Maternity Protection Act 1994

CA-00072555-002

18/06/2025

The Complainant alleges the following:

“I was on Maternity Leave from the 15/11/2024. In May of 2025 I was notified by the Department of Social Protection that I could apply for Parental Leave. I applied to my employer in May of 2025 to say that it had been accepted but payment never came through. When I queried this with the Department they told me my employment was terminated on the 03.01.2025. I have been unable to get any response from the head of the company Jean Garland.”

The Respondent stated the Complainant was employed on a Community Employment scheme which was run by the Good Counsel Parish Project. However, the project which was a limited entity was forced to close arising from critical operational reasons. In turn they liaised with Social Welfare, and it was agreed that the employees on their scheme would be transferred to another entity. That meant initially the wages were paid by another legal entity St Michael’s Community scheme and ultimately South Dublin County Council took over the scheme. The Complainant along with all employees on the scheme was treated the same and was not dismissed as it transferred over to another economic and legal entity. It is the case that the Respondent ceased managing the employee; however, no loss arose in this case, as all entitlements continued. Her contract finished as per the terms of the contract ended while assigned to work with South Dublin County Council after she returned to work from parental leave.

The Respondent stated that she  was not dismissed and she was paid for parental leave.

The Complainant believes arising from some disagreements with management that when the Respondent decided to transfer participants to another legal entity,  because she was on maternity leave her employment was not transferred. When she applied for parental leave, she was told by Social Welfare that her employment had ended. When she contacted the Respondent, she was not given the necessary assistance to resolve the problem. She concluded from this lack of co-operation and the failure to give her any explanation that her employment had ended.

The Complainant’s employment along with all others were first transferred over to St Michael’s Community project to administer wages and then to South Dublin County Council who became the employing entity. The Good Counsel Parish Project closed on or about early January.

On the 17th of December 2024 the Good Counsel Parish Project sent all payroll details to St. Michaels to administer payroll as the Good Counsel Project was about to cease as an entity.  The Complainant’s name was on that list.

The Respondent did take the Complainant’s call and did follow up on why she had not been paid her parental leave.

In May 2025 the Complainant applied for and was granted  9 weeks’ parental leave.

The Complainant alleges that she was unfairly dismissed:

I was on Maternity Leave from the 15/11/2024. In May of 2025 I was notified by the Department of Social Protection that I could apply for Parental Leave. I applied to my employer in May of 2025 to say that it had been accepted but payment never came through. When I queried this with the Department they told me my employment was terminated on the 03.01.2025. I have been unable to get any response from the head of the company Jean Garland.

Also, that on the expiry of her maternity leave she wasn’t allowed to return to work.

The Complainant in fact did return to work after her maternity and parental leave and worked out her contract. Based on her verbal evidence given at the hearing she did return and worked  approximately 30 days until the end of her fixed term contract. She worked that contract under a different legal entity as her employment transferred from the Good Counsel Social Project who had ceased to exist in early January 2025  to South Dublin County Council.

The Complainant also received her parental leave benefit which is detailed in a Social Welfare Benefits Letter that details parental benefit for the period 19th May 2025 to 20th July 2025.

The complaint was lodged with the Commission on the 18th of June 2025.

This referral to the Commission appears to have arisen based on a view that as Good Council Parish Project Limited ceased to operate and ended her employment with them,  a claim could be made for such termination. However, her employment transferred to the Council until her contract duration ran to its end date. No financial loss arises where the contract transferred and continued with South Dublin County Council.

On the sworn evidence of Ms Garland who managed the project and Ms Hegarty who managed payroll, the Good Council Project transferred all details over to the Council and to St Michaels so that the Complainant’s employment and payments would continue. What did occur was an administrative blip not because of what the Good Council Parish did but because the Good Council Parish Project when closing transferred the employees to another legal entity so that the Community Employment continued seamlessly. The Complainant at the time of transfer was on maternity leave, her records were transferred over. As the employment continued no termination of employment occurred and while delayed, based on the Complainant’s own evidence she did receive parental leave benefit. On these facts I find that the complaints are not well founded.

Maternity Leave CA-00072555-002:

The Complaint is not well founded as the Complainant did return to work after her parental leave had ended and continued to work out her remaining period of contractual employment amounting to about 30 days with South Dublin County Council. Her employment was transferred to South Dublin County Council so that her community employment contract would continue with them.

Unfair Dismissal CA-00072555-001:

While the Complainant’s employment ended with the Good Counsel Parish Project it transferred over to South Dublin County Council and ran until the end of the fixed term. I find that the Complainant was not unfairly dismissed. The complaint is not well founded.

Unfair Dismissal-Return to Work-Maternity Leave.