ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Decision Reference: ADJ-00004088

Complaint 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-00005909-001	18/07/2016

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 06/09/2016

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Gaye Cunningham

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act, and Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991, following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Complainant’s Submission and Presentation:

The complainant submitted his complaint that wages had been unlawfully withheld / deducted from him, summarised as follows: He had not received any payment for a number of months. He had outstanding payments dating back to January 2016. He was sometimes paid by cheque but the cheques were often returned unpaid by the bank. He made several attempts to contact the employer by text but these were all ignored so in the end he had no choice but to hand in his notice of termination of employment which he put in writing which was also ignored. He then received a text message on 16/7/16 stating'' any entitlements if any you may be due alongside the necessary documentation legally required by anybody leaving employment will be forwarded in due course”. The complainant stated that he commenced employment with the security firm’s client after the period which he contends for which wages he was due.

Respondent’s Submission and Presentation:

The respondent did not attend the hearing but sent a letter outlining his position, summarised as follows: The company lost the contract for provision of security services at the premises in which the complainant worked. The respondent subsequently learned that the complainant was employed by the same company, and therefore no wages were due.

Decision:

Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 governs the circumstances in which lawful deductions from wages may be effected. Section 5 (6) of the Act provides that where some or none of the wages which are properly payable to an employee have not been paid, this shall be treated as a deduction. I have examined the evidence provided by the complainant in this case, and particularly the payslips which clearly contain the name of the employer as “Nightwatchman Ltd”.

I declare the complaint to be well founded and in accordance with Section 6 of the Act, I require the respondent to pay to the complainant the sum of €2,427.92.

Dated: 3/11/2016