PWD2337

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00044896 (CA-00054994-004)


BACKGROUND:
This is an appeal of an Adjudication Officer’s Decision made pursuant to Section 7(1) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991.  The appeal was heard by the Labour Court on September 7, 2023 in accordance with Section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015.  The following is the Court's Decision:

DECISION:

Background to the Appeal        

This is an appeal by Mr Lucas Augusto de Lorenzo (‘the Complainant’) from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-00044896/CA-000554994-004, dated 1 August 2023) under the Payment of Wages Act 1990 (‘the Act’). The Complainant did not appear before the Adjudication Officer and, on that basis, the Adjudication Officer held that the complaint was not well-founded. The Complainant’s Notice of Appeal was received in the Court on 7 September 2023. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 17 November 2023.     
   

Factual Background         

The Complainant was employed by Dolphin Brothers Renewable Energies Limited (‘the Respondent’) as an Engineer between 26 January 2022 and 12 January 2023. The Complainant’s base salary by the latter date was €60,000.00 gross per annum. 
      

Submissions

There are three elements to the claim advanced by the Complainant on this appeal:

(a) He submits that he was not paid for his final week’s work in January 2023; 

(b) He submits that he was not paid in full for his outstanding statutory annual leave on cessation of employment; and 

(c) He submits that the Respondent had agreed to pay him an additional salary payment of €5,000.00 gross at Christmas 2022.               

The following is a summary of the Respondent’s submission to the Court in response to the above: 

(a) The Respondent submitted that there had been some confusion in relation to the Complainant’s status during the second week of January 2023 and it had been under the impression that he would attend on-site simply to handover his company vehicle, laptop and other equipment and that, therefore, he did not remain on payroll for that week. 

Having heard and considered the Complainant’s submissions, the Respondent’s representative conceded that the Complainant performed approximately two days’ work for the Respondent during the pay period in question. 

(b) Having reviewed the Complainant’s payslips, the Respondent concedes that payment for two days’ annual leave remains outstanding to the Complainant. 

(c) The Respondent denies entering into any agreement with the Complainant with regard to an additional salary payment to be paid at Christmas 2022. 
 

Discussion and Decision

Having regard to the Complainant’s submission and the Respondent’s concession, the Court awards the Complainant (a) payment for two days’ work performed in the week beginning 9 January 2023; based on the Complainant’s annual gross salary of €60,000.00, this amounts to €461.60 gross and (b) payment for two days’ accrued but untaken annual leave, amounting to €461.60 gross.         

The Court finds that the Complainant was unable to provide any evidence to it in support of his assertion that the Respondent had agreed to make an additional gross payment of €5,000.00 to him at Christmas 2022. This element of the claim under the Act, therefore, fails. The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
AR	______________________
24 November 2023	Deputy Chairman