Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Cook

A Hospital

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

CA-00025445-001

31/01/2019

The Complainant seeks redress under the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent in October 1997 as a cook. In August 1998 she was appointed to a permanent position and a grade of a Pensionable Officer.

In 2001, an issue arose with the Complainant’s pension and she spoke to her Line Manager. There was an issue with her pension as it appeared the Respondent failed to upgrade her status from temporary to permanent on the payroll system. Consequently, no pension contributions were being made since her appointment. The Complainant gave evidence that she believes to the best of her knowledge that she made a payment to make up the shortfall at this time. The Complainant produced the copy of a cheque in the sum of €921.60 dated 01 December 2003 which she stated may have been the shortfall amount paid when the matter was first highlighted in 2001.

On or about 15 May 2018 the Complainant was prompted to make enquiries into her pension. She again discovered there were some anomalies in respect of her pension contributions. It appeared the Respondent had not been making the correct pension deductions from her salary which transpired to a substantial underpayment.

The Complainant gave evidence of her engagement with the Respondent in an attempt to resolve the issue. By letter dated, 14 December 2019, the Complainant was advised that the arrears amount to €9,231.12 together with an apology. The Complainant disputes the sum of €1,917.50 for the period of 1998 – 2000.

The Complainant submitted that she is in extreme difficulty in respect of the discharge of these monies given her existing financial resources.

The Complainant seeks compensation for the errors.

TheRespondent accepted that there was engagement with the Complainant’s and her Union Representative. Following a review by the Respondent, it confirmed there was a shortfall to the Pension Scheme contributions.

By letter dated 14 December 2018, the shortfall was set out and an apology given to the Complainant both in writing and again at a meeting of 7 September 2018.

The Respondent submitted it is engaging with the Complainant to finalise an agreed recoupment plan in order to the shortfall is addressed.

At the hearing the Respondent undertook agreed to further review the copy of the cheque in the sum of €921.60 dated 1 December 2003 on its systems.

Both parties came to the hearing with a fair and reasoned approach. It is noted that the error has been acknowledged and an apology issued from the Respondent. It is important that this is seen as a positive. It is also noted that the Respondent has a Payroll Overpayments and Underpayments Procedure in place.

The Respondent also undertook to review its systems in light of the presentation of a copy of a cheque at the hearing.

In carefully considering all the elements of this particular case, emphasis is placed on the fact that there are two periods in which the appropriate deductions were not made from the Complainant’s salary - the first in the period from 1998 – 2000 and the second from 2001 – 2018.

In the circumstances where the Complainant did raise this discrepancy in 2000 and it was not rectified at this time and the issue arose again in 2018, I conclude that the claim is well founded.

The Respondent has undertaken to conduct a search of the Complainant’s cheque.

It is recommended that the parties follow procedures set out in para .4.6.5 of the Payroll Overpayments and Underpayments (NFR-04) v. 2 of 20.12.2013 to recoup the discrepancy.

By way of making amends for the errors, it is recommended that the Complainant be allocated two additional annual leave days per annual leave year for the remainder of her employment with the Respondent.

For the avoidance of doubt, I confirm that this recommendation is particular to the unique facts and circumstances of this case and that it cannot be quoted or used by either party or any other party in any other case.

Industrial relations – Pension contributions- well founded