WRC finds hotel worker entitled to redundancy payment

Pawel Sowinski is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment from Serdang Limited T/ A Blarney Hotel and Golf Resort, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found in a decision dated 18 May 2022. The payment is based on a gross weekly wage of €390 and employment that began on 1 March 2006, subject to the requirement that he was in insurable employment for the relevant period. Sowinski said he had worked as a kitchen porter and was left uncertain about his employment status after taking sick leave. He said he had not received redundancy letters or taken part in consultation. The hotel accepted that he had been made redundant but argued that his long absence meant he did not qualify for a lump sum under its collective redundancy arrangements. The WRC found that the hotel's letters had not reached him and that he had not been properly placed on lay-off or notified of the collective redundancy. It found that his employment status had been overlooked in the process and that he was “left behind”. The WRC concluded that his service was continuous for redundancy purposes, although his reckonable service was affected by the rules on extended illness-related absence.