WRC awards film stagehand €5,337.68 over employment terms

The Workplace Relations Commission awarded film stagehand Eddie Arkins Snr €5,337.68 after finding his complaint about written employment terms well founded. The WRC decision was dated 15 December 2023. Arkins said he had worked on film and television productions for the Metropolitan Films group since 2003, with breaks between productions. After finishing work on Badlands 3 in June 2018, he was not called back when work resumed. The adjudicator found his employer was Metropolitan Films International Limited and that the complaints were submitted in time. The WRC found that the contract gave the wrong employer name and address and an incorrect start date. It awarded four weeks’ pay for that breach. The decision used a weekly pay figure of €1,334.42 to calculate the award. A separate complaint that unpaid wages during lay-off were an unlawful deduction was not well founded. The adjudicator found an implied arrangement for lay-offs and said wages were not properly payable when no work was done. Arkins withdrew a separate complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act.