Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Courier

A Transport Company

Representatives

Appeared in Person

No Appearance by or on behalf of the Respondent

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00014522-001

27/09/2017

The Complainant in this case is seeking unpaid wages. The Respondent has not participated in the case or the hearing.

The Complainant, a Portuguese National was offered two weeks’ work with the Respondent Courier company from 15 July to 29 July ,2017. The complainant had worked there previously. He agreed with the owner that he was to receive €600 for a 6-day week in June 2017. He commenced work on 15 July ,2017 working a 4-day week and concluded on 29 July, having worked a 6-day week. the agreed rate was €570 per week.

He received a cash payment of €370 on 29 July, but nothing further. He had submitted his payment details and understood that he was to be paid a week in arrears. The complainant submitted that he was due a payment of €1130 .00 to cover salary and commission. He made every effort to secure his payment of wages but the Respondent avoided him. He terminated his employment.

When he took on the position, he had to surrender his Job Seekers benefit and another DSP payment and had difficulty being restored on this benefits on cessation of employment due to omissions of the Respondent. He suffered financial hardship. He approached the WRC Inspectorate for assistance and was informed that the Respondent had dropped unpaid wages through his letter box. This did not happen.

The complainant set out his claim for non-payment of wages as:

1 week 1: 4 days plus overtime plus €110 overtime = €680 gross

2 week 2   6 days plus overtime plus €190 overtime = €760 gross

The complainant also claimed €70 for time spent involved in merchandising.

He confirmed that he received one payment of €370. The Final figure owed stood as €1140.00 gross.

The Complainant agreed to furnish supplementary documents linking him to the Respondent employment.

There was no appearance by or on behalf of the Respondent. He did not submit any written submissions in response to the claim.

I have considered the claim carefully. The claim is not assisted by the absence of pay slips or a contract of employment. The P45 presented referred to a period worked in March 2017 prior to the employment referred to here . The P60 referred to the calendar year 2016. I could not rely on either of these documents to link the complainant to the current Respondent.

The sole documentary evidence before me is found in a letter from the Government Agency Service   which confirmed that the complainant was in employment from 24 July -5 August 2017. This is slightly variant on the dates submitted by the complainant, but I accept it confirms a two-week continuous period of employment.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing or make any submissions in the case. I would have liked to have heard his response to the claim.

Based on the uncontroverted evidence given by the complainant at hearing, I accept that he worked for the Respondent, albeit during the dates confirmed by the Government Agency.

Section 5(6) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 sets out -

(a) If the total amount of any wages that are paid on any occasion by an employer to an employee is less than the total amount of wages that is properly payable by him to the employee on that occasion (after making any deductions therefrom that fall to be made and are in accordance with this Act), or

(b) none of the wages that are properly payable to an employee by an employer on any occasion (after making any such deductions as aforesaid) are paid to the employee,

then, except in so far as the deficiency or non-payment is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency or non-payment shall be treated as a deduction made by the employer from the wages of the employee on the occasion.

Section 5(1) of the Payment of Wages Act ,1991 prohibits a deduction in pay outside contract, statute or written consent provisions .

I accept the uncontroverted evidence of the complainant that he is owed €1140.00 in unpaid wages. The claim is well founded.

Decision:

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I decide in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.

Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, requires that I decide in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.

I have found the claim to be well founded. I order the Respondent to pay the complainant the amount €1140.00 in unpaid wages, less statutory deductions within 4 weeks of this decision.

Unpaid Wages