The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered Metropolitan Films International Limited to pay stagehand Paul Hickey €5,337.68 after finding that his written employment terms gave the wrong employer name and address and an incorrect start date. The decision was dated 15 December 2023.
Hickey said he worked on film and television productions and was laid off in April 2018 when work on Into the Badlands ended. He argued that he remained employed by Metropolitan Films between productions and was owed wages during the lay-off. The company said he worked for separate production companies and argued that his complaints were out of time.
The officer found Metropolitan Films International Limited was his employer and that his employment continued during the lay-off until his dismissal took effect on 1 December 2019. The terms complaint was well founded, and the €5,337.68 award was equivalent to four weeks’ pay. Hickey’s wages complaint was not well founded: the officer found an implied lay-off arrangement and that wages were not properly payable when no work was done. His working-time complaint was withdrawn.