Eileen Cox awarded €500 after WRC finds Gallery Cafe breached transfer rules

Eileen Cox was awarded €500 after the Workplace Relations Commission found her complaint against Sinead Lynch and Samantha Swaris T/A Gallery Cafe well founded. The decision, by adjudication officer Janet Hughes, was dated 26 September 2023. Cox had worked as a kitchen assistant at the cafe, which closed in June 2022 before reopening under Homestyle Meats Ltd. The WRC found that the cafe business transferred to Homestyle Meats and that Cox remained an employee when the transfer occurred, so her prior service and contractual rights transferred with it. The complaint concerned protections for employees when a business transfers to a new employer. The WRC found that Gallery Cafe failed to follow those protections and ordered it to pay the compensation. The decision said the former and new employers had disputed who was responsible for Cox’s service and employment rights.