ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Decision Reference: ADJ-00005525

Complaints for Resolution:

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 09/03/2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady

Procedure:

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

Complainant’s Submission and Presentation:

The complaint under Regulation 18 of the European Communities (Road Transport) (Organisation of Working Time of Persons Performing Mobile Road Transport Activities) Regulations 2012 - S.I. No. 36/2012 had been made in error and was withdrawn at the hearing.

There was a dispute between the parties about what the agreed starting salary for the complainant was to have been; she understood it to have been agreed as €9.25 per hour but the respondent says that the rate to be applied was the National Minimum Wage then applying of €9.15.

The amount at issue is approximately €80.

A more significant issue arises in respect of pay for three days which the complainant claims she worked at the end of her period of employment. The respondent denies that she worked on these days.

Finally she claims in respect of payment for annual leave.

Respondent’s Submission and Presentation:

The respondent submits that the rate of pay offered was at all times €9.15 in line with the National Minimum Wage. This was the rate paid to her from the commencement of her employment.

He says that the complainant terminated her employment on a Friday and did not work the three days of the following week that she is claiming.

He did not dispute the annual leave entitlement due and had made an offer to settle that aspect of the complaint.

Findings and Conclusions

The respondent was not in a positon to provide any evidence to rebut the claims made by the complainant, and I find that the onus fell on him to do so.

The complainant was not given a statement of her Terms of Employment although I note that she terminated her employment, it would appear, just over two months after her commencement.

I accept the respondent’s submission that the intended rate of pay was €9.15. It seems more likely that he planned to pay the National Minimum Wage and that the complainant misunderstood this. The amount involved is insignificant.

However, I have no reason to doubt her evidence in relation to the additional days worked from October 3^rd to 5^th inclusive and find that she is owed the three days’ pay claimed in the amount of €387.00.

I also find in her favour in relation to the holiday pay claimed in the amount of €175.02

Decision:

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

I uphold her complaint CA-00007775-002 under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 in respect of her claim for annual leave payment and award her €175.00 (based on 236.5 hours worked.)

I uphold her complaint CA-00007775-003 under section 7 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and award her €250.00

Complaint CA-00007775-004 was withdrawn.

I uphold her complaint CA-00007775-005 under the Payment of Wages Act and award her three days pay in the amount of €387.00. I do not uphold her complaint in respect of the claimed hourly rate of €9.25.

Dated:   05 July 2017