ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00005481
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | An Engineer | A Recruitment Agency |
Representatives | In person | Ibec |
Complaint(s):
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 25 of the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act, 2012 | CA-00007464-001 | 06/10/2016 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 07/06/2017
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael Hayes
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and the abovementioned Act, 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).
Background:
The respondent assigned the complainant as an engineer to the hirers maintenance team from October 2014 until December 2016. The parties made written and oral submission to the hearing. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The complainant submits that the respondent has breached the provisions of the Act in that it failed to ensure that he receive equal pay for equal work. The amount of financial redress sought is €44,845.61. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent relies upon the “Swedish Derogation” which allows derogation from the principal of equal treatment in relation to “Pay” only as it relates to agency workers who have a contract of indefinite duration with the employment agency provided, that they are paid between assignments at a level of 50% of the wage they received during their last assignment but at no lower a rate than that provided in National Minimum Wage. The definition of pay in the Act covers basic pay, shift work, piece work, overtime payment, unsocial hours worked and hours worked on Sunday. The complainant’s contract of employment (s.7.2) conforms to these requirements and consequently the complaint must fail. |
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.
The complaint is not well founded. |
Dated: 28th June 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael Hayes