WRC orders Last Bus Limited to pay €442.89 to former driver

The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered Last Bus Limited to pay former bus driver Gerard McEvoy €442.89 for untaken annual leave and public holidays. In a decision dated 10 February 2023, the WRC also found his annual-leave claim during lay-off and his redundancy-payment complaint were not well founded. McEvoy worked at Dublin Airport’s Quick Park car park from 2007 and was placed on temporary lay-off in March 2020. After Quick Park ceased trading, Last Bus offered him alternative bus-driving work on a route between Dublin Airport and Portlaoise. McEvoy declined the offer and claimed redundancy pay, saying the job was with a different company and had significantly different terms. He also claimed unpaid holiday and public-holiday pay during lay-off. The WRC found the alternative job suitable and the proposed changes to his terms insignificant. It decided McEvoy was not dismissed and had failed to return to work after lay-off, so he was not entitled to redundancy pay. The €442.89 award covered 3.5 days of untaken annual leave and public holidays that fell in the first 13 weeks of lay-off.