Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Farm Worker

Farm Owner

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-00022925-001

30/10/2018

The Complainant claims that he was not paid for all the hours he worked for the Respondent.

The Complainant stated that he was employed on the Respondent’s farm from 17th January 2018 to 1st August 2018. He agreed with the Respondent that he would receive pay or time off in lieu of hours worked in excess of the contractual hours paid under the Farm Subsidy Scheme. The Complainant duly kept a record of all the hours he worked. However, the Respondent failed to pay him for the extra hours or grant him leave in lieu. The Complainant further stated that he did not receive payment for 42 hours worked in his final week. He calculated that he was underpaid by a total of 432 hours in the employment period.

The Respondent stated that he had provided accommodation to the value of €1,500 in the first 10 weeks of the Complainant’s employment. He also provided him with a vehicle and paid €1,252 in car fuel costs.   He further wishes it to be noted that he paid the Complainant €100 for electricity bill, which bill (for a total of €450) – is still not paid. The Respondent also paid a parking fine for the Complainant of €60.

Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 provides:

“(6) Subject to subsection (8), an adjudication officer shall not entertain a complaint referred to him or her under this section if it has been presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates”.

This complainant was received on 30th October 2018. The cognisable period therefore for consideration is from 1st May 2018 to the end of the Complainant’s employment on 1st August 2018.

I accept from the evidence of the Complainant’s own records that he worked 196 hours during that period for which he was not paid wages properly payable. I note the Respondent’s position regarding accommodation provided. However, this occurred outside the cognisable period. I also note the Respondent’s evidence regarding electricity bills, provision of vehicle and payment of fuel costs. However, as the definition of wages in the Payment of Wages Act 1991 specifically excludes expenses – see Section 1 (b) (i) - I cannot take this into account.