Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A catering assistant.

A restaurant / food company.

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

CA-00022302-001

02/10/2018

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent on 16/12/2017 and worked until 14/09/2018. His position was that of catering assistant for which he was paid €9.56 per hour. His working week varied between 35 hours and 50 hours per week.

This complaint was received by the WRC ON 02/10/2018.

The complaint relates to the non-payment of a premium for working on a Sunday.

The Complainant also mentioned that he had not received any accrued holiday payment at the time of his departure from the Respondent company.

The Complainant alleges that he was never paid a Sunday premium, that he worked three out of every four Sundays and that Sunday’s could be as long as 11.5hours.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing of the complaint.

Correspondence in relation to the hearing of the complaint was sent to the Respondent some 4 weeks prior to the hearing.

The complaint as presented by the Complainant is straightforward, he claims that at no time was he paid a premium for working on a Sunday. He further claims that he worked approximately three out of every four Sundays and very often Sunday work hours would be 7.30am to 7.00pm.

At the hearing the Complainant produced wage slips from week 2 0f 2018 through to week 35. Following this period there are another two wage slips but these appear to be back to a week 1 basis.

From the uncontested evidence adduced at the hearing I will presume that in the period outlined above the Complainant worked 27 Sundays and that each Sunday averaged 10 hours i.e. 270 hours worked on Sundays in the period outlined.

The Complainant was paid a rate of €9.56 per hour (national minimum wage in this period = €9.55).

I am satisfied that the complaint as presented is accurate, the Complainant was not paid a Sunday premium and that he worked 3 out of every four Sundays.

I believe a fair Sunday premium for this type of work is 20%.

The complaint is well found, and I now order the Respondent to pay the Complainant the sum of €516.24 as unpaid wages in lieu of Sunday premium.

Section 27 (3) (C) of the Organisation of Working Time reads as follows:

(3) A decision of a rights commissioner under subsection (2) shall do one or more of the following:

©” require the employer to pay to the employee compensation of such amount (if any) as is just and equitable having regard to all the circumstances, but not exceeding 2 years remuneration in respect of the employee’s employment , and the references in the foregoing paragraphs to an employer shall be construed , in a case where ownership of the business   of the employer changes after the contravention to which the complaint relates occurred, as references to the person who, by virtue of the change, becomes entitled to such ownership”.

In accordance with section 27(3) of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 I now order the Respondent to pay the Complainant the sum of €500as compensation in addition to the unpaid wages outlined above.

These payments should be made to the complainant within 42 days from the date of this decision.

Outlined above.