Stagehand on ‘Ripper Street’ loses case of unfair dismissal

A supervising stagehand on hit TV series Ripper Street has failed in an unfair dismissal case against the producers of Sally Rooney’s Normal People and the Oscar-winning movie, Poor Things.

It follows the Labour Court dismissing the action by John Arkins against Element Pictures.

On behalf of the Labour Court, deputy chairwoman Louise O’Donnell found Mr Arkins has failed to establish that he was at any time employed by Element Pictures in any capacity, and therefore his complaint must fail.

Ms O’Donnell concluded that the complaint was not well founded and upheld a May 2020 Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruling in a case where the parties were not named.

The case was before the Labour Court on appeal by Mr Arkins, and he claimed that Element Film Ltd was his employer when he had worked on Ripper Street

series four and when he was laid off in 2016.

On behalf of Element Pictures, Hugh McDowell BL categorically stated that Mr Arkins had never worked for Element Pictures, was never paid by the company and that Element Pictures was not the producer company for Ripper Street series four.

He said that the documents opened to the court from the Companies Registration Office (CRO) supported that position, and pointed out that Kilternan Films Production Ltd was the firm behind Ripper Street series four.

The CRO documents show that the producer company was Element Pictures Productions Ltd, which is not the firm that Mr Arkins was taking the action against.

Mr McDowell argued that the CRO documents in respect of Element Pictures Productions Ltd and Element Film Ltd show they are two separate legal entities, albeit with some crossover in terms of directors.

In the fully contested case before the Labour Court, joint managing director of Element Pictures, Andrew Lowe, gave evidence rebutting Mr Arkins’s unfair dismissal claim.

He said that Element Pictures Ltd has about 44 full-time employees between cinemas and distribution, and about 30 part-time staff.

It was Mr Lowe’s evidence that Mr Arkins had never worked for the firm and was never paid by it.

It was Mr Arkins’s case that he was employed by Elements Pictures Ltd, and when it did not offer him a position, he was unfairly dismissed.