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 Complainant was a property manager for HSE Estates, the estates management function of the Respondent. In 2007, the Complainant’s job was to be made redundant, but because no alternative appointment within the Respondent’s operations was available for him at the time, the Complainant was allowed on an exceptional basis to continue in his role without any direct line management. The Complainant recorded his working time in a staff system, but was never directed to take annual leave, and the Complainant said he was too busy in his job to avail of his full statutory annual leave entitlement.
The Complainant retired from his position in October 2022. Section 23 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 provides that annual leave accrued but not taken at the time of the cessation of employment is to be paid to an employee at their normal daily rate of pay. At the time of the Complainant’s retirement, he had accrued over 100 days of statutory annual leave days over a period of over 15 years which he had not yet taken, and he claimed that he was entitled to be compensated for all of these days at his daily rate of pay. The Respondent said that his claim was limited to the period of six months prior to his date of complaint to the WRC, and that he had an obligation to take his annual leave.
Outcome:
The Adjudication Officer, having regard to the recent decisions on this topic from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as applied in A Facilities Coordinator v A Bakery (ADJ-00019188), found that an employer is required to ensure that the worker is both given the opportunity to take paid annual leave and if it is to be lost through non-use, that the worker must be put on notice of this in advance of its loss. Because the Complainant did not have any effective line management, the Respondent failed in these obligations, and as a result, the Complainant’s claim was well-founded. He was awarded €31,666.78.
Practical Guidance for Employers:
Employers have an obligation to ensure an employee is given the opportunity to take paid annual leave and to put employees on notice that if this entitlement is not availed of, it will be lost.
The full case is here:
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2024/january/adj-00040093.html
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