ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00021381
Parties:
|
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Security Employee | A Security Company |
Complaint:
Act | Complaint Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 | CA-00028106-001 | 30/04/2019 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 07/08/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 following 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 worked for the respondent from September 25th 2017 until February 17th 2019. His wages were often paid late and evidence was shown of the last payment he received, which was in respect of the pay period ending January 31st 2019, being credited to his bank account on March 4th 2019. He received a payslip for the period which is the subject of this complaint showing an amount due of €1220.79 but he did not receive any payment for the period. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent did not attend the hearing and did not offer any explanation for the failure to do so. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The complainant attended the hearing with good supporting documentation and was a credible witness. There was no evidence of the payment being received into his bank and this was confirmed by a review of his bank statements in the period between the termination of the employment and the date of the hearing. He made considerable effort to get his wages and emailed the respondent on March 19th 29th and April 4th, 5th and 9th. However, he got no response. This respondent has featured in previous, similar cases and this suggests a deliberate policy of not paying its employees or former employees when it sees fit. This is a clear breach of the Payment of Wages Act which exists ‘to provide further protection for employees in relation to the payment of wages’. In this case, the respondent failed to honour its obligation to pay those wages. It is something of a dark irony that it saw fit to issue a wage slip, but not to pay the wages to which it related. |
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 uphold complaint CA-00028106-001 and award the complainant gross wages in the amount of €1220.79. |
Dated: 12 September 2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady
Key Words:
Payment of Wages |