WRC unable to hear Paul Arkins’s unfair dismissal complaint after wrong company named

The Workplace Relations Commission could not hear Paul Arkins’s unfair dismissal complaint after finding that the company named as respondent was not his employer. The WRC decision was dated 19 February 2024. Arkins said he had worked for years on film productions and believed he was not offered work when filming resumed because of his union membership. World 2000 Entertainment Limited argued that a separate production company had employed him and that the complaint was out of time. The adjudication officer found the complaint was submitted within the statutory time limit, but that Arkins was employed by Metropolitan Films International Limited and its subsidiaries, not World 2000 Entertainment Limited. Because the wrong respondent was named, the WRC had no jurisdiction to proceed; the merits of whether he was unfairly dismissed were not decided.