THE Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruling in favour of a Castlefinn musician has been described as a “big win for workers’ rights” by a Donegal Independent TD.
Deputy Thomas Pringle said he will challenge both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Social Protection about what they are going to do in light of this ruling, in order to protect workers and the State.
It comes after Matt McGranaghan, a former fiddle player for top country music star Michael English, has been awarded almost €44,000 for unfair dismissal and breaches of employment rights after a tribunal rejected claims that the musician was a contractor working “gig to gig” for six years.
The WRC has ruled that the musician was unfairly sacked by the management of the Michael English Band – MEPC Music Ltd – in September 2021 following a row over employment rights.
The tribunal’s decision on the case, published this week, marks the first time it has applied the principles of the Supreme Court’s ruling last year on distinguishing employees from contractors to the entertainment industry.
Giving evidence, Mr McGranaghan urged the WRC to find that he was in insurable employment with MEPC Music, a finding that would set aside a previous ruling by the Social Welfare Appeals Office.
Mr McGranaghan said that 98.7 per cent of his annual earnings came from MEPC Music, the joint venture of Mr Claffey and Mr English.
The complainant’s representative, Martin McMahon, said that his client made €50,000 annually for playing around 220 gigs a year – adding that treating Mr McGranaghan as self-employed created a “substantial” 15 per cent saving on employer PRSI contributions compared with direct employment.
In her decision, WRC adjudicator Caroline Reidy noted that the relationship between Mr McGranaghan and MEPC Music involved the weekly exchange of money for work as well as the provision of his personal services as the band’s “resident fiddle player” – with substitutes only an “exception”.
She found Mr McGranaghan’s dismissal had been unfair. In total, MEPC Music Ltd has been directed to pay Mr McGranaghan €43,840 on foot of his complaints.
Meanwhile, TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said the WRC ruling in favour of Mr McGranaghan signalled an important development.
“The culture of employers being protected by the State to the detriment of workers must end. Bogus self-employment is widespread, and it doesn’t benefit anyone but employers.
“The question that has to be asked is how has Government, Revenue and Social Welfare allowed the practice of bogus self-employment to continue? It seems another way the Government facilitates business, by making it cheaper for them to exploit people.”
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