WRC awards Louise Tierney €5,154 in notice pay

The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Palomar Ltd Mcswiggans Restaurant to pay Louise Tierney €5,154 for eight weeks’ notice after finding her complaint well founded. The decision was dated 5 August 2022. Tierney worked as an assistant manager at the restaurant from 13 December 2001 until she was made redundant on 10 August 2020. She said she was owed notice pay. The company argued that redundancy ended her entitlement and that pandemic unemployment payment covered the notice period. The adjudication officer found that Tierney had not applied for redundancy and that accepting it did not take away her statutory right to paid notice. The officer also found that COVID-19 and pandemic unemployment payment did not undo that entitlement. The €5,154 award represents eight weeks’ wages and is subject to lawful deductions.