A KITCHEN PORTER who was left jobless after a fatal shooting at a Dublin restaurant on Christmas Eve has been awarded a redundancy package of close to €22,000.
A total of seven people have been charged in relation to Sherry’s killing and will appear before the Special Criminal Court in November.
Browne’s Steakhouse closed following this fatal shooting and has ceased trading.
The case was taken to the Workplace Relations Commission by Gedeminas Urbasius, who had worked at Browne’s Steakhouse for 18-and-a-half years until its closure on 24 December last.
Urbasius was seeking a statutory lump sum payment arising from his termination of employment and the case was taken against San Siro Limited, trading as Browne’s Steakhouse.
The matter came before the WRC at the end of February and a hearing was scheduled for the end of April.
This hearing was adjourned to 8 August because the adjudication officer was not satisfied that Browne’s Steakhouse was properly on notice of the hearing.
However, there was no appearance by or on behalf of the restaurant on 8 August and the adjudication officer said she was “satisfied the Respondent was notified of the date, time and venue of the hearing by correspondence from the WRC”.
Browne’s Restaurant did not engage in any way with the WRC in relation to the case.
Urbasius told the WRC that he “has heard nothing” from Browne’s Steakhouse since the fatal shooting and that he contacted the restaurant by mail at the end of April.
The letter informed the restaurant that Urbasius was seeking a redundancy payment.
“I fully understand that this may be a difficult situation for you as well, however I have no other option as have no information whatsoever and believe redundancy payment is the right decision in these circumstances,” Urbasius wrote in the letter.
In her findings, the WRC’s adjudication officer Eileen Campbell noted that the restaurant has ceased trading and said she is “satisfied the Complainant is entitled to a redundancy payment”.
She also remarked that she is “satisfied that the Respondent has not paid any monies to the Complainant in respect of his redundancy at the date of hearing”.
It was also remarked that “this award is made subject to the Complainant having been in insurable employment under the Social Welfare Acts during the relevant period”.
The statutory redundancy payment is a lump-sum based on your pay and length of service.
It is equal to two weeks’ pay for every year of service, plus one additional week’s pay.
Based on this formula, the redundancy package awarded to Urbasius is just over €21,900.
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