Job loss probe under scrutiny

A High Court challenge to powers used by inspectors investigating redundancies at Clerys Department Store has been given the go-ahead.

Investment company D2 Private Ltd and its director and owner, Deirdre Foley, sought permission to bring proceedings after inspectors appointed by the Workplace Relations Committee, along with gardaí, entered the firm’s offices at Harcourt Terrace in Dublin last Thursday.

Mr Justice Anthony Hunt yesterday gave D2 Private permission to challenge the inspectors’ rights to enter its premises and take certain documents and material, saying he was satisfied the company had an arguable case.

The judge said the permission did not mean D2 Private would succeed in its challenge.

The court heard last Friday that the inspectors were appointed by the Workplace Relations Commission after the Dublin store’s closure in June 2015, shortly after its sale by its previous owners, the Gordon Brothers Group, to Natrium Ltd.

Eoin McCullough SC, for D2 Private, said Natrium is a joint venture made up of D2 Private Ltd and Cheyne Capital Management in the UK.

Approximately 460 people, either directly employed by Clerys or by various concession holders in the store, lost their jobs.

Counsel said that, as part of their investigation, the two inspectors rely on certain provisions of the 1977 Protection of Employment Act and the 2015 Workplace Relations Act, including powers to enter premises and take documents.

After entering D2 Private’s offices last week, the inspectors demanded to be furnished with certain books and records and a laptop belonging to a company employee.

The laptop was taken by the inspectors, the court heard.

The documents include correspondence the company had with parties including the liquidators and directors of OCS Operations, the company that operated Clerys before Natrium acquired it.

Ms Foley and D2 Private reject the inspectors’ assertions that they have the power to enter the premises or to lawfully take the computer or materials sought.

Barrister Breffni Gordon, for the jobs minister, who has responsibility for the Commission, said his client opposes the application.

He said the investigation was being conducted to see if a criminal prosecution should be brought arising out of the redundancies.

Last Friday, Judge Hunt accepted an undertaking that the laptop would be kept by a solicitor for the Department and not interfered with pending further court order.