The Labour Court has overturned an award of €23,000 made by the Workplace Relations Commission to a restaurant worker on the ground that the application was made out of time.
Suman Bhurtel was working in Chicken Club, Castleisland in County Kerry and was contracted to work a 39-hour week for €14.79 per hour. Accommodation was also included. However, the WRC concluded from evidence that Mr Bhurtel was only being paid €8.24 per hour which is more than €3 below the minimum wage at the time and was working on average 70 hours per week. Mr Bhurtel also complained that he had not taken any annual leave in 2020 or 2021 and was not paid for the annual leave he took in 2022.
Mr Bhurtel sought an extension for the time allowed to bring a complaint to the WRC on the grounds that he was dependant on his employer for his work permit and employment status.
Adjudicator Úna Glazier-Farmer found that it was appropriate to extend the time limit from 6 months to 12 months in the circumstances and found that the employer had “took advantage”. She awarded Mr Bhurtel a total of €23,000 for breaches of employment law.
The company appealed the award to the Labour Court and the Labour Court found that the claim was statute barred. Mr Bhurtel submitted that the reason for the delay was that he was unaware of his legal rights and he was hampered by his first language not being English. The court noted that the application was made out of time and no explanation which would ‘both explain the delay and afford an excuse for the delay’ had been submitted.