Brendan Gleeson played fiddle in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’
The co-producer of the multi-Oscar nominated The Banshees of Inisherin and Netflix hit Valhalla has won the first appeal against a cumulative €434,216 award made to a group of 22 film workers.
This follows the Labour Court setting aside a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) award of €5,337 last December to Clive McCarthy, an Irish Film Workers Association (IFWA) member and stage hand for the productions of Penny Dreadful and Into The Badlands.
In the ruling, deputy chairwoman of the Labour Court Katie Connolly said the court has found no evidence that the appellant, Metropolitan Films International Limited, was the employer of Mr McCarthy.
As a result, Ms Connolly concluded that it was not necessary for the court to determine the other preliminary matters in relation to the court’s jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
Ms Connolly said the court found the complaint is not well-founded and the decision of the WRC adjudication officer is set aside.
Metropolitan Films International has lodged appeals concerning the awards made to the 22 workers relating to the cumulative award of €434,216 and the McCarthy case is the first appeal heard.
A second appeal has been heard by the Labour Court and ruled upon with the ruling to be published shortly.
A spokeswoman for Metropolitan Films International said: “Metropolitan Films International Limited is pleased that the recent ruling from the Labour Court, setting aside a previous adjudication from the WRC, fully confirms and vindicates the company’s position on these matters from the outset.”
Metropolitan Films International told the Labour Court that it is a production company that identifies material for film/TV projects and sources funding to develop projects with writers and directors.
It said that once a project is financed and is gearing up to enter production, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is established, and all the employees and contractors are then engaged and paid by the SPV.
Metropolitan says that during the period June 2017 to March 2018, Mr McCarthy was employed as a PAYE employee in the role of stagehand by two such separate SPV entities: Badlands Three TV Productions DAC and VK Six Productions DAC.
The Labour Court report said the court was told that Mr McCarthy was not proceeding with the case, and did not attend the hearing to rebut the appeal.
