St Patrick's College v Daniel Collins (Represented by Sile O Donnell Consultancy)

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 12 January 2018
• Judgment citation (vLex): [2018] 1 JIEC 1201
• Court: Employment Appeal Tribunal (Ireland)
• Date: 12 January 2018
• Docket Number: ADJ-00002230 CA-00002822-001,DETERMINATION NO.UDD184,FULL RECOMMENDATION

Labour Court (Ireland)

FULL RECOMMENDATION

UD/17/137

DETERMINATION NO.UDD184

ADJ-00002230 CA-00002822-001

PARTIES:

St Patrick's College

and

Daniel Collins (Represented by Sile O Donnell Consultancy)

DIVISION:

Chairman: Ms O'Donnell

Employer Member: Mr Marie

Worker Member: Mr Hall

SECTION 8A, UNFAIR DISMISSAL ACTS, 1977 TO 2015

SUBJECT:

1 1. Appeal Of Adjudication Officer Decision No: ADJ-00002230 CA-00002822.

BACKGROUND:

2 2. The Worker appealed the decision of the Adjudication Officer to the Labour Court in accordance with Section 8A of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 to 2015 on 4 September, 2017. The following is the Determination of the Court:

DETERMINATION:

3 This is an appeal by Daniel Collins (hereafter the Complainant) against an Adjudication Officer's Decision ADJ 00002822 given under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 to 2015 (the Act) in a claim that he was unfairly dismissed by his former employer St Patrick's College (hereafter the Respondent). The Adjudication Officer dismissed the claim on the basis that the Claimant voluntarily entered into an agreement to terminate his employment. Therefore, no dismissal occurred.

Background

4 The Complainant was employed by the Respondent as a Residential Advisor from September 2009 till 31 ^st August 2015. In 2014 an issue arose as to the necessity for this role going forward. The Complainant entered into an agreement with his employer which confirmed that he would be given a final contract that would expire on 31 ^st August 2015 and at that point he would receive an ex-gratia payment of €5,000 euro. Following the expiration of the contract and the payment of the ex-gratia payment in September 2015 the Complainant expressed surprise that he had only received a net payment of €2,410. It was his understanding and had been confirmed by the HR Department that he would receive the full €5,000 euro. As this issue could not be resolved to his satisfaction he submitted an unfair dismissal claim in February 2016.

Complainant's case

5 The Complaint told the Court in evidence that when he signed that agreement he did not give “informed consent”. At the time of signing the agreement he thought he would receive the full €5,000 euro. If he had known at the time this was not the case, he would not have signed the agreement. He also told the Court that he considered himself unfairly dismissed from July 2014 even though he continued to work for the Respondent for a further 12 months. He later stated...