Three workers who said they were left short on wages and severance pay after being let go due to "trading difficulties" at an engineering firm have won pay orders.
Margaret Boylan, Michelle Boyle and Caroline Nugent each secured orders under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against Randridge International Ltd in decisions published by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) today for covering back pay and other entitlements worth from €4,500 to €9,000.
The three workers agreed to pull out of pursuing further claims for statutory redundancy lump sums after the company said it had referred them to the national redundancy fund.
Margaret Boylan secured an order for €9717.23, less statutory payroll deductions, which WRC adjudication officer Brian Dalton noted had been agreed between the parties. Mr Dalton awarded Ms Nugent €4,500 as a gross sum under the wages legislation.
In Ms Boyle's case, it was agreed that the worker owed the company a net sum of €7,130 net after receiving a loan and was due gross sums of €1578.40 in holiday pay, €8755.20 in notice pay, and €229.84 in unpaid wages. When payroll deductions were accounted for, the remaining balance was €103, it was agreed. Mr Dalton made an order for the payment of that sum.
The position of the company, which was represented by Roberta Urbon of Peninsula Business Services, was that "cash flow challenges" and "financial difficulties" had left it unable to pay the workers what they were owed.
All three of the employees had also made complaints seeking the payment of statutory redundancy. Ms Urbon submitted that each of their cases were referred to the national redundancy fund for payment. The complaints under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 were all withdrawn.
In Ms Boylan’s case, the redundancy lump sum was €18,108, while Ms Boyle had sought €22,236 and Ms Nugent €4,511.93.
Two other former Randridge staff are also known to have brought statutory complaints to the WRC following the redundancies in July.
Alison Tynan told the tribunal that she was also withdrawing a redundancy claim after receiving an unspecified payment from the company the day before a hearing on 21 October this year -- but that she was still seeking around €6,500 in notice pay, annual leave entitlements and unpaid wages. The pay claim was conceded.
A fifth former employee, Francis Declan Radmall, claimed at a separate hearing that day that he is owed nearly €26,000 between unpaid statutory redundancy and various sums he believes are due and owing to him as wages.
He told the tribunal that he was informed of his redundancy in a letter which stated the firm was "facing challenging times" following the "knock-on effects" of a bankruptcy and had an "inability to pay wages".
Ms Urbon said that the majority of what was being claimed by Mr Radmall had already been paid. The adjudicator hearing that case, Breiffni O’Neill, said he required a more detailed breakdown of the worker’s claim and adjourned the matter with directions to the company to furnish certain documents.
When Mr O’Neill said it was unlikely the case would be listed again before the New Year, Mr Radmall called the situation "unacceptable".
"Randridge are just playing a game, another financial game," he said. He said he had a list of "over 20 people" he claimed were owed money by the firm.
"The organisation is treating not only me but their suppliers and other individuals exactly the same, hoping to get away with not paying people in accordance with their contract," he said.
