The Complainant was employed by the Respondent company from the 18th of July 2005 until the 15th of July 2020 at which time his position was made redundant. He had been placed on temporary layoff from 1st of April 2020 prior to his post being made redundancy on the 15th of July 2020. During this time period, the Respondent was under company examinership. The COVID 19 crisis was unprecedented and the Respondent’s entire fleet of aircraft had been grounded and subsequently 700 employees across the CityJet group were made redundant.
Upon being made redundant, the Complainant contended that he was entitled to 36.5 days annual leave and this was confirmed by the Respondent, though the Respondent decided to only pay the Complainant for 29 of these days, leaving a deficit of 7.5 days @ €327.14 per day unpaid, a total of €2,453.55 unpaid. The Complainant raised a complaint about this matter after consulting with the HR department in Cityjet, seeking his owed holiday pay upon redundancy. The Respondent stated that it was only paying the 29 days and not the full entitlement of 36.5.
In defending the claim the Respondent argued that the Complainant failed to particularise any alleged incorrectness of the redundancy payment and failed to set out any case in support of a claim under Section 39 of the 1967 Redundancy Act.
The Adjudication Officer highlighted that Under Section 23 of the 1997 Act, upon cease of employment, an employee is entitled to compensation for loss of annual leave in respect of the relevant period. The Adjudication Officer decided that the complaint was well founded and the Complainant was due a gross payment of €2,453.55 from the Respondent. The Adjudication Officer referred to the fact that Employers may introduce a “take them or lose them” approach in relation to annual leave carry overs but that employers cannot then inform employees that they cannot avail of leave during a two month period due to staff attending a training programme.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2021/october/adj-00029692.html
Continue reading
We help hundreds of people like you understand how the latest changes in employment law impact your business.
Please log in to view the full article.
What you'll get:
- Help understand the ramifications of each important case from NI, GB and Europe
- Ensure your organisation's policies and procedures are fully compliant with NI law
- 24/7 access to all the content in the Legal Island Vault for research case law and HR issues
- Receive free preliminary advice on workplace issues from the employment team
Already a subscriber? Log in now or start a free trial
