ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00014064
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | An administrator | A doctor’s surgery |
Complaint:
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-00018394-001 | 09/04/2018 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 25/06/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, this complaint was assigned to me by the Director General. I conducted a hearing on June 25th 2018, and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.
The complainant attended the hearing alone and without representation. She explained that the doctor who was the principal of the medical practice had died and that his affairs were being managed by a business consultancy company. The managing director of this company was on notice of the hearing on June 25th, but he did not attend and did not send a representative.
Background:
The complainant commenced employment with the medical practice on September 11th 2017. The practice was owned and staffed by one doctor, with a three administrative staff and a nurse. Sadly, the doctor died in late 2017. This complaint is about the fact that the complainant was not paid for the hours she worked before she left the practice in January 2018. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
At the hearing, the complainant described the difficulties she and the staff at the surgery experienced following the death of the doctor. She said that they tried to continue to run the surgery on behalf of the doctor’s wife, contracting locum doctors to look after the patients. She said that they were informed that a named consultancy was their point of contact, and that they should refer any issues of concern to the consultant. Wages were normally paid on the 15th of each month, but staff were paid at the end of December for the month of December. She understands that the money for December’s wages were paid from the account of the company’s solicitor. When she was not paid in January 15th, the complainant left her job on January 26th. Despite requests to the consultants who she was informed was her point of contact, she has still not been paid her wages for January 2018, and she had not received her outstanding holiday pay. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
As the respondent’s representative did not attend the hearing, I can take no account of their position with regard to this complaint. |
Findings and Conclusions:
From the statements submitted by the complainant in evidence, it is clear that the death of her boss had an effect on many people, including his family, his patients and the staff in his practice. Regrettably, it appears that entitlements of at least one of his employees, if not all of them, has not been properly managed. The complainant is at a loss of 154 hours’ pay for the work she did in January 2018, and she is also entitled to holiday pay for annual leave accrued from September 11th 2017 until January 26th 2018. I have estimated her holiday entitlement to be equivalent to eight days or 64 hours. Therefore, the complainant is entitled to pay for 218 hours. |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
I have decided that the legal representative responsible for the estate of the respondent is to pay the complainant for 154 hours that she worked in January 2018 and for holidays accrued during the 20 weeks of her employment. As her hourly rate of pay was €9.55, she is to be paid €2,082 gross. |
Dated: 3rd September 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Catherine Byrne
Key Words:
Non-payment of wages |