Paul D Maier is a barrister specialising in the law of work, labour, and employment. Based in Dublin, Ireland, he is a member of the Law Library, having been called to the Bar in 2022.
Paul represents both employers and employees at all levels of the Courts, as well as before the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission. He is a qualified arbitrator and is frequently commissioned to lead independent investigations and disciplinary procedures for organisations. Additionally, he is regularly engaged to provide legal advice and opinions on employment law and related matters.
Paul serves as the Editor of the Irish Employment Law Journal and Employment Law Report, and he is the Treasurer of the Employment Bar Association.
Background:
The former employees, who worked in various roles within the Respondent business, had worked without proper breaks as required by the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. The Respondent closed its business abruptly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic without warning to its employees, and did not pay any wages due to the employees at the time of closing or any mandatory payments required upon dismissal. One Complainant said in evidence that the restaurant re-opened in August 2020, but without re-engaging any of the Complainants. This Complainant said he had returned to the restaurant premises to ask whether they would be re-engaged, and was told to leave the premises.
The five Complainants were heard consecutively by the same Adjudication Officer on the same day. No representative of the Respondent attended the hearings. The hearings were separate, although it was accepted by the Adjudication Officer that much of the evidence provided in one hearing was related and therefore admissible in the other hearings.
Outcome:
The Adjudication Officer described the failure by the Respondent to adhere to working time regulations was a “chronic, institutional failure.” The Adjudication Officer found nearly all complaints raised by the Complainants to be well-founded and made an award of over €62,000 in respect of all complaints before him for the five Complainants. Of note, over €30,000 of those awards were made pursuant to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.
Practical Guidance for Employers:
A failure to set and abide by a working time policy in a workplace does not just create risk of a single, low-value complaint against an employer, but can also create a risk of a group claim which may result in an overall costly award.
The full cases are here:
- https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/october/adj-00029809.html
- https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/october/adj-00030665.html
- https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/october/adj-00030665.html
- https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/october/adj-00030612.html
- https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2023/october/adj-00030663.html
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