Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Cristi Petrica  Serban

Temporary Outsourced Trades and Labour Limited.

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Representatives

  In person.

Ruairi De Burca, De Burca Greene Solicitors LLP

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-00030339-001

16/08/2019

The Complainant commenced as a temporary agency worker with the Respond (an agency supplying labour) on 22nd July 2019 and ended on 16th August 2019.

This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 16th August 2019.

The Complainant commenced employment on July 2019 as a steel fixer, his employer (the Respondent) was a temporary agency specialising in supplying labour to the construction industry.

The assignment with the client lasted for two weeks, following this the agency had no other assignment for which the Complainant was suitable. They informed him that he should stay at home while they tried to find another assignment for him. The Respondent told him to wait for another roster.

The Complainant made several attempts to contact the Respondent in relation to not receiving wages and enquiring when he may be supplied with another roster.

The Complainant contends that the Respondent did eventually contact him and offered to pay him €200 and this was to be the full payment for the two weeks he had stayed at home with no work to go to.

The Complainant contends that it was not his fault that the Respondent were unable to find him more work.

The Complainant states that he did not want to stay at home and that he was still an employee of the Respondent.

The Complainant is also stating that he was underpaid for the hours of work that he did. Such underpayment is for 4 hours over two weeks.

The Complainant feels he has been taken advantage of by the Respondent because he is young and does not speak very good English.

 The Respondent has a recruitment agency licence and arranges for temporary agency staff across a wide number of sectors. It specialises in the construction industry.

 The Complainant applied for temporary agency work with the Respondent as a steel fixer on 19th July 2019.

The Complainant was successfully placed with the Respondent’s client. The assignment was temporary as evident from his terms and conditions and which furthermore would have been made clear at all times to the Complainant. The Complainant was under the control, supervision and direction of the Respondent’s client at all times whilst he was at work. The Respondent had no input as to his working day whilst he was on assignment.

The Complainant was paid €670.14 gross on 27th July 2019 by the Respondent arising from his first week’s assignment with the client. He was paid a further €660.96 gross arising from his second weeks assignment with the same client.

 The Respondent’s client then terminated the temporary assignment. This was communicated to the Complainant. Every effort was made to secure the Complainant another assignment to no avail.

The Complainant was paid his holiday pay and for the August bank holiday by the Respondent in the sum of €242.97 on 10th August 2019.

The Respondent was not under an obligation to provide the Complainant with ongoing work and was lawfully entitled to terminate the arrangement in circumstances where it could not arrange for a further assignment.

I have listened to both parties at the hearing of the complaint and read the documentation supplied by the Respondent.

A copy of an email dated 19th July 2019 was included in the papers supplied by the Respondent, this email requested the Complainant to complete his personal details on the ‘New Employee Form’ and a document titled ‘Statement of Terms of Employment of Temporary Agency Worker’ was also enclosed.

The document ‘Statement of Terms of Employment of Temporary Agency Worker’ is a comprehensive document setting out the particulars of employment. I note that some blank spaces were evident, it was for the Complainant to complete and return to the Respondent.

Under the heading ‘Commencement of Employment & Assignments’ the following is stated:

You will be assigned to work for a client of the Agency as a Temporary Agency Worker. The Agency is not obliged to provide any assignments to you and should the Agency fail to provide you with an assignment, this will give rise to no liability on the part of the Agency.

This document then goes onto state, under the heading of ‘Salary / Rates of Pay’:

Unless otherwise agreed, you are not entitled to payment either from the Agency or a client in respect of time not spent on assignment, whether in respect of illness or absence or for any other reason with the exception of annual leave or public holidays. For the avoidance of doubt, no payment will be provided to you outside of their assignments.

The Complainant contends that he never received this email.

I have fully considered this matter and have decided that the Complainant received all the wages he was entitled to; this complaint therefore is not well founded and fails.

I have fully considered this matter and have decided that the Complainant received all the wages he was entitled to; this complaint therefore is not well founded and fails.

Agency worker; Payment of Wages Act.