Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Daniel  Lee

Sampar Limited

Representatives

Garrett J. Fortune & Co Solicitors

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-00053051-001

30/09/2022

The Complainant was employed by the Respondent as a general construction operative from 15 February 2022 and was due to be paid €650 per week net. He stated that there was a shortfall of €1,095 in respect of the wage payments that were due to him.

The Complainant was employed by the Respondent as a general construction operative from 15 February 2022. At the commencement of his employment, it was verbally agreed with the Respondent that he would be paid €650 per week net. Despite this verbal agreement, he stated that wage payments were made to him on an irregular basis and there was a total shortfall of €1,095 in respect of the payments that were due to him.

The Complainant stated that he stopped working on 29 March 2022 in the expectation that the monies owed would be paid to him by 1 April 2022, which was the end of that week. Despite having contacted the Respondent seeking the outstanding amounts owed, he did not receive the payments and the Complainant did not return his employment.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing to give evidence.

The Law

The Payment of Wages Act 1991 states at section 5 and 6 as follows:

5.— (1) An employer shall not make a deduction from the wages of an employee (or receive any payment from an employee) unless—

( a) the deduction (or payment) is required or authorised to be made by virtue of any statute or any instrument made under statute,

( b) the deduction (or payment) is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a term of the employee's contract of employment included in the contract before, and in force at the time of, the deduction or payment, or

( c) in the case of a deduction, the employee has given his prior consent in writing to it. 

(2) An employer shall not make a deduction from the wages of an employee in respect of—

( a) any act or omission of the employee, or

( b) any goods or services supplied to or provided for the employee by the employer the supply or provision of which is necessary to the employment,

unless—

iv) in case the deduction is in respect of an act or omission of the employee, the employee has been furnished, at least one week before the making of the deduction, with particulars in writing of the act or omission and the amount of the deduction,

(6) Where—

(a) the total amount of any wages that are paid on any occasion by an employer to an employee is less than the total amount of wages that is properly payable by him to the employee on that occasion (after making any deductions therefrom that fall to be made and are in accordance with this Act), or

(b) none of the wages that are properly payable to an employee by an employer on any occasion (after making any such deductions as aforesaid) are paid to the employee,

then, except in so far as the deficiency or non-payment is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency or non-payment shall be treated as a deduction made by the employer from the wages of the employee on the occasion.

Findings

Based on the uncontradicted evidence of the Complainant, I find that there was a shortfall in the wages that were due to be paid to him on Friday 1 April 2022 in the amount of €1,095 and that this shortfall should be treated as a deduction in line with section 6 of the Act above.

I find that the complaint is well founded for the reasons set out above and direct that the Respondent make a payment of €1,095 to the Complainant.