Labour Court upholds enhanced redundancy recommendation after company appeal

The Labour Court upheld a Rights Commissioner’s recommendation for an enhanced redundancy payment to a worker at STJ Horticulture Limited, dismissing the company’s appeal. The decision was signed on 5 February 2009. The recommendation was three weeks’ pay per year of service plus statutory redundancy, with the worker and STJ Horticulture Limited to seek funding from the appropriate authorities. The worker had been employed since December 2002 and became a manager in June 2003. The company said it had no spare funds and that Pobal had refused funding. The union argued that community sector workers should receive comparable enhanced redundancy terms. The Court noted that STJ Horticulture Ltd was a separate legal entity from St. Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Impaired, which had no liability for the company’s deficits.