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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
RTÉ HR manager denies newsroom worker had to ‘misrepresent himself to Revenue' to get shifts with broadcaster
A senior human resources manager at RTÉ has denied at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that it got a media worker to 'misrepresent his employment status' to the taxman to get shifts in its newsroom. The worker, Joseph Kelly, claims he was denied the statutory entitlements to paid leave and Sunday premium pay that would normally accrue to an employee while he was engaged by the broadcaster under a 'freelance' contract between 2012 and 2018. The State broadcaster, however, argues that Mr Kelly was paid all Sunday premiums owed, along with annual leave and public holidays. RTÉ was found liable for a €36,000 bill for the period by the Department of Social Protection after it ruled in 2022 that Mr Kelly had been employed since 2012. READ MORE However, it maintains the ruling only pertains to insurability of employment and that the claims are out of time. Questioned repeatedly about Mr Kelly's status at a hearing on Thursday, a senior human resources manager at RTÉ said: 'We absolutely accept the insurability decision. The reality was that the contract Joseph signed was a sole trader agreement. I can't rewrite history, that's what it was.' The WRC was hearing evidence in complaints brought under the Organisation of Working Time Act 2005 and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 by Mr Kelly. Mr Kelly's representative, Martin McMahon, said the Department's Scope ruling showed his client 'should have been treated as an employee' by RTÉ since 2012, and it therefore followed that he had been denied various pay-related statutory rights set out in his complaints. IATA Director General Willie Walsh on airline profits, air fares and why the Dublin Airport passenger cap makes Ireland a laughing stock Listen | 35:56 Mr Kelly claims he was denied the entitlement to paid annual leave, not paid for public holidays, and did not receive a premium for Sunday work from 2012 to 2018. He further alleges he was not provided with a statement of his core terms of employment. Giving evidence on Thursday, Mr Kelly said: 'The way I was brought in was by word of mouth. My name was given to a guy, I was brought in, talked to a manager, it was a casual interview. When I was coming in, HR said I had to be a sole trader, so I became a sole trader,' he said. Mr Kelly said his job at that time in the broadcaster's media ingest department from 2012 to 2018 was to 'cover the guys in the room' – all of whom were RTÉ employees – and to do 'whatever was needed of me'. It was a 'high-pressure role' where Mr Kelly and his co-workers received and organised multimedia material and recorded news feeds from across the world in preparation for news broadcasts, the complainant said. 'I wouldn't have received time off. It's famine or feast – you might have a month where you might get two days; you might have a month where you only get two days off,' Mr Kelly told the hearing. This situation continued from 2012 to 2018, when the ingest room manager 'got a promotion' and an employee 'moved up' into the management position, leaving an open vacancy, whereupon he 'became staff', Mr Kelly said. He told the WRC that due to the fact he was self employed, he 'wasn't allowed' to apply for internal jobs. Having received a staff contract, he later secured a more senior position as a newsroom co-ordinator in 2023, he said. He also said he believed he should have got incremental pay rises and could have advanced to a more senior role more quickly if he had access to internal staff competitions and that he 'should be on a higher rate than I'm on now'. Addressing Mr Kelly's current contract in cross-examination, RTÉ's solicitor, Seamus Given of Arthur Cox, put it to the complainant that he was on point 12 of a 14-point salary scale in his current role, after 11 years' service. 'I'm putting it to you are correctly positioned,' Mr Given said. 'Well, I would say no,' Mr Kelly said. Angela McEvoy, a senior HR manager at RTÉ, gave evidence that in that period Kelly was paid all Sunday premium owed, along with annual leave and public holidays, referring to a payroll report submitted by the broadcaster. Questioning Ms McEvoy, Mr McMahon said: 'Joseph was an employee of RTÉ from 2012 to 2018, that's the legal position, uncontested by RTÉ. Joseph's increments would be different if RTÉ accepted all those years of service, yes or no?' 'No, we're saying not, because Mr Kelly is on point 12 of the salary scale, that is obviously close to the top of the salary scale,' Ms McEvoy said. Asked whether RTÉ informed Mr Kelly that he had been 'misclassified as self-employed' when he was first put on an employment contract in 2018, Ms McEvoy said: 'No, because there was no need to do that. There was no need to inform Mr Kelly of anything like that.' 'Joseph was offered employment in RTÉ, but legally Joseph had been an employee from 2012, do you accept that?' Mr McMahon said. 'No I don't,' Ms McMahon said. 'You've accepted it in Social Welfare, why won't you accept it here?' Mr McMahon asked. 'What RTÉ accepted is a PRSI insurability decision going back to 2012,' the witness said. Mr McMahon continued to press Ms McEvoy on this point for some time and received the same answer. She said at one stage: 'You're saying there's a contract of employment. We absolutely accept an insurability decision. The reality was that the contract Joseph signed was a sole trader agreement. I can't rewrite history, that's what it was,' she said. Addressing the contract for services signed by Mr Kelly in 2012, Mr McMahon put it to her that RTÉ 'has the power in that situation' and that there was 'no negotiation' of its terms. 'I don't accept what you're saying. There is a choice for an individual to sign or not. Nobody is forced to sign,' she said. She agreed that it was a term of the contract that a worker 'had to be registered as self-employed in order to access a self-employment agreement' with RTÉ at that time. Mr McMahon said it was an offence to 'procure an employee to misrepresent themselves to the Revenue Commissioners'. 'In the contract, black and white, [it states] RTÉ has to receive written confirmation from the Revenue Commissioners that Joseph can be treated as self-employed for tax purposes,' Mr McMahon said. 'Do you accept RTÉ did procure Joseph to misrepresent himself to Revenue?' Mr McMahon said. 'Absolutely not,' Ms McEvoy said. Adjudication officer John Harraghy has concluded his hearings into the matter and will issue his decision in writing to the parties in due course.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- RTÉ News
RTÉ HR manager denies making worker 'misrepresent' tax status
A senior human resources manager at RTÉ has denied that it procured a media worker to "misrepresent his employment status" to the taxman to get shifts in its newsroom. The worker, Joseph Kelly, claims he was denied the statutory entitlements to paid leave and Sunday premium pay that would normally accrue to an employee while he was engaged by the broadcaster under a "freelance" contract between 2012 and 2018. The State broadcaster, however, argues that Mr Kelly was paid all Sunday premium owed, along with annual leave and public holidays. RTÉ was found liable for a €36,000 bill for the period by the Department of Social Protection after it ruled in 2022 that Mr Kelly had been employed since 2012. However, it maintains the ruling only pertains to insurability of employment and that the claims are out of time. Questioned repeatedly about Mr Kelly's status at a hearing yesterday, a senior human resources manager at RTÉ said: "We absolutely accept the insurability decision. The reality was that the contract Joseph signed was a sole trader agreement. I can't rewrite history, that's what it was." The WRC was hearing evidence in complaints brought under the Organisation of Working Time Act 2005 and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 by Mr Kelly. Mr Kelly's representative, Martin McMahon, said the Scope ruling showed his client "should have been treated as an employee" by RTÉ since 2012, and it therefore followed that he had been denied various pay-related statutory rights set out in his complaints. Mr Kelly claims he was denied the entitlement to paid annual leave, not paid for public holidays, and did not receive a premium for Sunday work from 2012 to 2018. He further alleges he was not provided with a statement of his core terms of employment. Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Kelly said: "The way I was brought in was by word of mouth. "My name was given to a guy, I was brought in, talked to a manager, it was a casual interview. When I was coming in, HR said I had to be a sole trader, so I became a sole trader," he said. Mr Kelly said his job at that time in the broadcaster's media ingest department from 2012 to 2018 was to "cover the guys in the room" - all of whom were RTÉ employees - and to do "whatever was needed of me". It was a "high-pressure role" where Mr Kelly and his coworkers received and organised multimedia material and recorded news feeds from across the world in preparation for news broadcasts, the complainant said. "I wouldn't have received time off. It's famine or feast - you might have a month where you might get two days; you might have a month where you only get two days off," Mr Kelly told the hearing. This situation continued from 2012 to 2018, when the ingest room manager "got a promotion" and an employee "moved up" into the management position, leaving an open vacancy, whereupon he "became staff", Mr Kelly said. He told the WRC that due to the fact he was self employed, he "wasn't allowed" to apply for internal jobs. Having received a staff contract, he later secured a more senior position as a newsroom coordinator in 2023, he said. He also said he believed he should have got incremental pay rises and could have advanced to a more senior role more quickly if he had access to internal staff competitions and that he "should be on a higher rate than I'm on now". Addressing Mr Kelly's current contract in cross-examination, RTÉ's solicitor, Seamus Given of Arthur Cox, put it to the complainant that he was on point 12 of a 14-point salary scale in his current role, after 11 years' service. "I'm putting it to you are correctly positioned," Mr Given said. "Well, I would say no," Mr Kelly said. Angela McEvoy, a senior HR manager at RTÉ, gave evidence that in that period Kelly was paid all Sunday premium owed, along with annual leave and public holidays, referring to a payroll report submitted by the broadcaster. Questioning Ms McEvoy, Mr McMahon said: "Joseph was an employee of RTÉ from 2012 to 2018, that's the legal position, uncontested by RTÉ. Joseph's increments would be different if RTÉ accepted all those years of service, yes or no?" "No, we're saying not, because Mr Kelly is on point 12 of the salary scale, that is obviously close to the top of the salary scale," Ms McEvoy said. Asked whether RTÉ informed Mr Kelly that he had been "misclassified as self-employed" when he was first put on an employment contract in 2018, Ms McEvoy said: "No, because there was no need to do that. There was no need to inform Mr Kelly of anything like that." "Joseph was offered employment in RTÉ, but legally Joseph had been an employee from 2012, do you accept that?" Mr McMahon said. "No I don't," Ms McEvoy said. "You've accepted it in Social Welfare, why won't you accept it here?" Mr McMahon asked. "What RTÉ accepted is a PRSI insurability decision going back to 2012," the witness said. Mr McMahon continued to press Ms McEvoy on this point for some time and received the same answer. She said at one stage: "You're saying there's a contract of employment. We absolutely accept an insurability decision. "The reality was that the contract Joseph signed was a sole trader agreement. I can't rewrite history, that's what it was," she said. Addressing the contract for services signed by Mr Kelly in 2012, Mr McMahon put it to her that RTÉ "has the power in that situation" and that there was "no negotiation" of its terms. "I don't accept what you're saying. There is a choice for an individual to sign or not. Nobody is forced to sign," she said. She agreed that it was a term of the contract that a worker "had to be registered as self-employed in order to access a self-employment agreement" with RTÉ at that time. Mr McMahon said it was an offence to "procure an employee to misrepresent themselves to the Revenue Commissioners". "In the contract, black and white, [it states] RTÉ has to receive written confirmation from the Revenue Commissioners that Joseph can be treated as self-employed for tax purposes," Mr McMahon said. "Do you accept RTÉ did procure Joseph to misrepresent himself to Revenue?" Mr McMahon said. "Absolutely not," Ms McEvoy said.
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Ryanair among airlines to suspend Middle Eastern flights
Many airline services remain disrupted in the Middle East arising from the 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that took hold on Tuesday. Air space closures and safety concerns continue to weigh on airline traffic in the region. Below are some of the airlines that have cancelled their flights to and from the region: Aegean Airlines: The Greek airline will proceed with flight cancellations from and to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, and Erbil up to and including the early morning flight on September 8. Airbaltic: Latvia's airBaltic said that all flights to and from Tel Aviv until September 30 had been cancelled. Air Canada: The Canadian carrier is suspending its flights from Toronto to Dubai until August 4. It had previously postponed resumption of service between Canada and Israel to September 8. Air Europa: The Spanish airline said that it has cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv until July 31. Air France-KLM: The French flag carrier suspended flights to Tel Aviv until July 14. It plans to resume its flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut starting on June 26 and to resume flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh as of June 25. KLM said that it had cancelled all its flights to and from Tel Aviv until at least July 31. Air India: The Indian airline will "progressively" resume flights to the Middle East starting June 24 and will resume flights to and from the east coast of the U.S. and Canada "at the earliest opportunity," it said. Flights to and from Europe will also be reinstated from June 24. Arkia: The Israeli airline said all its flights to and from Israel are cancelled until June 30, except to New York. Flights to Eilat are cancelled until June 28. Delta Airlines: The U.S. carrier said that travel to, from, or through Tel Aviv may be impacted between June 12 and August 31. El Al Israel Airlines: As of June 24, the Israeli airline began increasing flights and adding frequencies from key destinations. Starting next week, it added, flights will operate as scheduled, except for a few cancelled flights. Etihad Airways: Etihad said that it had cancelled flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv until July 15. Emirates were among the airlines to halt Middle Eastern flights Emirates: Emirates said that it had temporarily suspended flights to and from Iran and Iraq until and including June 30. Finnair: The Finnish airline cancelled its flights to and from Doha through June 30, as well as flight AY1982 on July 1. Finnair added that it was not flying through the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria, or Israel. FlyDubai: The UAE airline said it was planning to resume its full schedule across the network from July 1. It will resume operations to Damascus and Tel Aviv on June 26. IAG: IAG-owned British Airways said that its flights to Tel Aviv remain suspended until July 31 and flights to Amman and Bahrain are suspended up to and including June 30. The airline also suspended flights to and from Doha up to and including June 25. IAG's low-cost airline, Iberia Express, had previously said that it had cancelled its flights to Tel Aviv until June 30. Iberia will resume its flights to Doha on June 27. ITA Airways: The Italian Airline said that it would extend the suspension of Tel Aviv flights until July 31, including two flights scheduled on August 1. Japan Airlines: The Japanese carrier cancelled its flights to Doha until July 2. Lufthansa: Lufthansa said that it had suspended all flights to and from Beirut until and including June 30 and to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran until and including July 31. Flights to and from Amman and Erbil are cancelled until and including July 11. The German airline added that it would also refrain from using airspace of the countries concerned until further notice. Pegasus: The Turkish airline said that it had cancelled flights to Iran until July 7 and flights to Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan until July 4. Qatar Airways: Qatar Airways said that it had temporarily cancelled flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Syria. Ryanair: Ryanair said that it had cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv and to and from Amman until Oct 25. Tarom: Romania's flag carrier said that flights to Tel Aviv will resume starting on June 26 and added that flights to Beirut will restart on the night of June 27-28. TUS Airways: The Cypriot airline said it has resumed operations to and from Israel. United Airlines: The U.S. carrier said that travel to and from Tel Aviv may be affected between June 13 and August 1. Flights to Dubai between June 18 and July 3 may also be affected. Wizz Air: Wizz Air said it had suspended its operations to and from Tel Aviv and Amman until September 15 and was cancelling flights to and from the United Arab Emirates until June 30. The Hungarian airline will also avoid overflying Israeli, Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian airspace until further notice.
