Background: The Complainant was employed as a Financial Controller for the Respondent, which provided care assistants to clients. In September 2023 the Respondent’s owner said there had been an issue with pay, and on 5 October 2023 the Respondent’s owner posted a picture of a letter on the company’s WhatsApp group addressing this problem. This letter advised that the Directors of the Respondent decided to cease trading from 5 pm that day. This was due to the Respondent having failed to pay the Revenue Commissioners, which resulted in the Respondent not being able to receive payments from its client for work completed in the prior two months. This resulted in a cash shortfall that left the Respondent unable to pay its staff or other creditors. The Respondent’s owner removed himself from the company WhatsApp group immediately after posting this letter and blocked himself from receiving any further messages.

The Complainant alleged he was owed a number of entitlements, including weekly wages for six weeks, as well as accrued annual leave entitlements, an owed redundancy lump sum, minimum notice for a dismissal and compensation for having been prevented from taking annual leave in the prior year.

Outcome: The Respondent did not attend the hearing, and so the evidence given by the Complainant was uncontroverted. As a result, the Adjudication Officer found all complaints made to be well-founded. Given the financial position of the employer, it is likely that many, if not all, of these awards will fall to be paid by the statutory insolvency payments scheme.

Practical Guidance for Employers: It is insufficient for an employer to claim they do not have the funds to pay their workers and to close their doors, and doing so still gives rise to claims in employment law.

The full case is here:
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2024/march/adj-00048645.html