ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00023307

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	An Electrician	An Electrical Contractor

Complaint(s):

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-00029874-001	24/07/2019

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 10/09/2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Roger McGrath

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 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 Complainant commenced employment as an electrician with the Respondent, on 22nd October 2018. His employment ended on 1st March 2019. He was paid €975.00 per week and worked 39 hours per week. A complaint was lodged with the WRC on 24th July 2019.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The Complainant submits that he is owed four weeks basic pay plus statutory holiday for the months of January and February. Despite repeated requests both verbal and written the Respondent refused to pay the Complainant these monies. Due to the late payment of these monies the Complainant was forced to seek work elsewhere.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

There was no appearance by or on behalf of the Respondent at the hearing. I am satisfied that the said Respondent was informed in writing of the date, time and place at which the hearing to investigate the complaint would be held.

Findings and Conclusions:

The Complainant herein has referred the following complaint:

A complaint of a contravention of Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, that is, a Complaint of an unlawful deduction having been made from the Employee’s wage. Pursuant to Section 6 of the said 1991 Act, and in circumstances where the Adjudicator finds that the complaint of a contravention of Section 5 aforesaid is deemed to be well founded, then the Adjudicator can direct that the employer pay to the employee an amount which is subject to the limits set out in Section 6 of the 1991 Payment of Wages Act 1991.

Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 sets out the instances wherein deductions can and cannot be made.

Section 5 (1) states that an employer shall not make a deduction from an employee unless:

The deduction is required by Statute or Instrument;

The Deduction is required by the Contract of employment;

The employee has given his prior consent in writing;

I found the Complainant to be a credible witness. I find he was not paid his last four week’s pay. I also find that he was not paid two days annual leave which he had accrued by the time he left the Respondent’s employment.

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 well founded, and I direct the Respondent to pay the Complainant €3,900 in lieu of the unlawful deduction from his pay and €350.00 in lieu of the two day’s Annual Leave he had accrued when he left the Respondent’s employment.

Dated: 10-10-2019

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Roger McGrath

Key Words:

“Unpaid wages” “Holiday Pay”