ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00012304
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Security Worker | A Security Company |
Complaint(s):
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-00015094-001 | 11/10/2017 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 31/05/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Shay Henry
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991following 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).
Background:
The Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2017 provided for a 30c per hour increase from 1st June 2017. The complainant received the increase but had other contractual allowances reduced. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The complainant works 36 hours and 48 hours every second week as a security man. Until 12th March 2017 the respondent was the employer. Following the Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2017 which provided for a 30c per hour increase from 1st June 2017, the complainant requested the respondent on a number of occasions to apply the increase. On 17th October 2017 the respondent wrote stating that they would increase the pay rate but reduce other allowances from €16.80 to €13.20 for night shift and, €3.44 to €3.14 per hour for Sunday premium. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent was not represented at the hearing and did not submit any evidence. I am satisfied that he was on notice of the hearing by letter dated 26th April 2018. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The Payment of Wages Act 1991 at Section 5 (6) states: (6) Where— (a) 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. The respondent in this case claims to have met the terms of the Employment Regulation Order insofar as he changed the hourly rate of pay of the complainant. However, he deducted money from the wages properly payable to the complainant at the same time. This constitutes a breach of the Payment of Wages Act and therefore the complaint is well founded. |
Decision:
Section 41 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 Act.
Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under that Act.
I find the complaint under Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 to be well founded and order the respondent to pay the complainant compensation of €600. |
Dated: 14th August 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Shay Henry
Key Words:
Unauthorised deduction from wages |