Staffline Recruitment Ltd (Represented by Irish Business and Employers' Confederation) v Anna Zawadzka

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 21 November 2018
• Judgment citation (vLex): [2018] 11 JIEC 2107
• Date: 21 November 2018
• Docket Number: FULL RECOMMENDATION DETERMINATION NO.PWD1834 ADJ-00005514 CA-00007674-001
• Court: Labour Court (Ireland)

Labour Court

FULL RECOMMENDATION

PW/18/46

DETERMINATION NO.PWD1834

ADJ-00005514 CA-00007674-001

PARTIES:

Staffline Recruitment Limited (Represented by Irish Business and Employers' Confederation)

and

Anna Zawadzka

DIVISION:

Chairman: Mr Haugh

Employer Member: Mr Murphy

Worker Member: Ms Tanham

SECTION 7(1), PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT, 1991

SUBJECT:

1 1. Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No.ADJ-00005514 CA-00007674-001.

BACKGROUND:

2 2. This is an appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Decision pursuant to Section 7(1) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991. The appeal was heard by the Labour Court on 26 October 2018 in accordance with Section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015. The following is the Court's Determination:-

DETERMINATION:

3 This is an appeal on behalf of Staffline Recruitment Limited (‘the Respondent’) from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-00005514; CA-00007674-001, dated 12 April 2018) under the Payment of Wages Act 1991. The Respondent's Notice of Appeal was received on 29 June 2018. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 26 October 2018.

Preliminary Issue

4 The Respondent's Notice of Appeal was received outside the 42-day time limit provided for in section 44(3) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 (‘the 2015 Act’). The Respondent applied to the Court to extend the time under section 44(4) of the 2015 Act. It submits that its failure to give notice to the Court of its intention to appeal the Adjudication Officer's decision was due to exceptional circumstances.

5 Those exceptional circumstances, in the Respondent's submission, comprise of the following sequence of events:

•

• The Respondent's business address changed on 24 March 2017 from Naas to Gowan House Unit 8, Carriglea Business Park, Naas Road, Dublin 12;

• The Respondent set up a forwarding system with An Post for a period of six months from the date of the change of office address;

• The first hearing before the Adjudication Officer took place on 13 April 2017 and both parties were in attendance; (IBEC was not on record for the Respondent at this time); the matter was adjourned to a later date;

• The Respondent's HR Director wrote to the Workplace Relations Commission on 24 April 2017 to notify it that she was the main point of contact for all cases in which the Respondent was a party; she supplied her office address in Derry and her email address to the WRC but did not notify the WRC of the change of office address from Naas to Dublin 12;

• The WRC...