ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Decision Reference: ADJ-00000172

Complaint(s)/Dispute(s) for Resolution:

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991	CA-00000255-001	15/10/2015

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 19/01/2016

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Joe Donnelly

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).

Complainant’s Submission and Presentation:

In My final Payslip there was a deduction made for 370 Euro. The reason given on the Pay slip was "Training". I asked for an explanation. I was told by HR that "This was for the Sonas training €320.00 cert for 2014 to 2016 and for Dementia Care €50.00 cert for 2015 to 2017." The Sonas training took place in October 2013 and was valid from 2014 till end of 2015. Because this was expensive training outside work hours I told Melissa at the time that I didnt want to do it if i had to pay but she told me that the company would cover the cost. I was not aware of any applicable training deductions in my contract of employment and even if there were it seems very odd to wait 2 years to look for payment in my final payslip when leaving this employment. Also Sonas training is mandated by HIQA to the employer. Why would the employee have to pay? The other deduction was for more HIQA mandated training from May this Year. I looked in section 5 of the payment of wages act and this seems not to be a legal deduction. The way this deduction was made seemed to indicate that the HR department were instructed to make these deductions as a matter of course when an employee was leaving. I would not be surprised if many other people have had unfair deductions made to their salaries in their final payslip from this employer. As per my P60 my employers PAYE Regd. No. is 3226168FH but this form does not accept a PAYE No with 2 letters. the old one is 4874808N

The complainant further stated in evidence that there was no clause in her contract in regard to having to pay for training and that she had made it clear to the respondent that she would only do the training on the basis of it being paid for by the employer.

Respondent’s Submission and Presentation:

There was no appearance by the Respondent

Decision:

Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that

Issues for Decision:

The issue for decision is whether the deduction of a total of 370 euro by the respondent was a lawful deduction.

Legislation involved and requirements of legislation:

Section 5 of The Payment of Wages Act 1991 states;

(1) An employer shall not make a deduction from the wages of an employee (or receive any payment from an employee) unless –

(a) the deduction (or payment) is required or authorised to be made by virtue of any statute or any instrument made under statute,

(b) The deduction (or payment) is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a term of the employee’s contract of employment included in the contract before, and in force at the time of, the deduction or payment, or

(c) In the case of a deduction, the employee has given his prior consent in writing to it.

Decision:

The deductions which are the subject of this complaint are clearly not required by statute. The evidence of the complainant was that payment for training was not part of her contract and that she had made it clear that she would not pay for same. There was no evidence to the contrary as the respondent chose not to attend.

I therefore find that the complaint is well founded and order the respondent to pay the complainant the sum of 370 euro within six weeks of the date of this order.

Dated: 23^rd February 2016