ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00022083

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	An Employee	An Employer

Complaint(s):

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 24 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000	CA-00028941-001	10/06/2019

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 24/09/2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Valerie Murtagh

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and Section 24 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000following 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.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The complainant states that over the past 15 years, she received payments while on sick leave but this year she has not received any pay while absent on sick leave. The complainant states that she complained to her manager about the situation but he informed her that she was not eligible for such payments.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The respondent states that the complainant has been employed by the respondent since May 2004 as a general operative. It states that the complainant was issued with a new contract in 2016. The respondent states that at no time was the complainant underpaid and has been on an hourly wage of €17.34 and above since 2016.

The respondent submits that the complainant’s issue relates to sick pay. The respondent states that time spent on sick leave is excluded from the definition of “working hours” in the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000. Section 8 of the Act states

(2)“Working hours” under this section shall include –

(a) overtime,

(b) time spent travelling on official business, and

(c ) time spent on training or on a training course or course of study authorised by the employer, within the workplace or elsewhere, during normal working hours,

but shall not include-

(ii) time spent absent from work on annual leave, sick leave, protective leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, while laid-off, on strike or on “lock-out”, or time for which the employee is paid in lieu of notice.

The respondent requests that the claim be rejected on the basis that the respondent pays above the National Minimum Wage in line with the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000.

Findings and Conclusions:

Having examined the claim I find that the complaint under the National Minimum Wage Act is not well-founded as the complainant is being paid above the National Minimum Wage.

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 find that the complaint is not well-founded as the complainant is in receipt of payment above the National Minimum Wage and there is no breach by the respondent in this regard. Accordingly, the within complaint is dismissed.

Dated: 1/1/10

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Valerie Murtagh