The Complainant was interviewed by the Respondent’s assistant store manager on Thursday the 8th October 2020, his interview was successful, and the Complainant commenced employment in the Respondent’s toy store on the 12th of October 2020 and worked until the 8th of December 2020.

When the Complainant asked how long the position would be for, he was informed "we can’t offer you anything permanent at the moment because of covid19 but we will see what happens in January".

The Complainant along with another employee started work on the morning of the 12th of October 2020 at 10:00am. No written information about particulars of employment were issued to the Complainant.

The Complainant contended that he received wage slips sporadically. He never received a written statement of terms of employment, containing certain core terms of employment within the first 5 days of starting his job or the remaining terms in writing within 2 months of starting work.

The Respondent offered no explanation regarding their failure to issue a written statement of the particulars of employment.

The Adjudication Officer stated that The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 provided that “an employer must issue its employees with a written statement of terms and conditions relating to their employment within two months of commencing employment.” The Act also provides that an employer must notify the employee of any changes in the particulars as given in the statement.

The Adjudication Officer decided that the complaint was well founded ordered the Respondent to pay compensation in the amount of 4 weeks wages i.e. €2,508.00 (57 x 11 x 4).

Key points

It is extremely important that an Employer provides an employee with a written statement of terms and conditions of their employment immediately after they commence employment.  With effect from the 4th of March 2019, an employer must also notify each new employee, in writing, within five days of commencement of employment, of the following core terms of employment:

• The full names of the employer and the employee,
• The address of the employer,
• The expected duration of the contract,in the case of a temporary contract, or the end date if the contract is a fixed term contract,
• The rate or method of calculation of the employee’s pay,
• The number of hours the employer reasonably expects the employee to work per normal working day and per normal working week

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2022/july/adj-00033733.html