Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Ciaran Ó Heafa

Veracity Maintaining Partnerships Limited

Representatives

Self-represented 

Did not attend the hearing

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-00058658-001

05/09/2023

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00058658-002

05/09/2023

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

CA-00058658-003

05/09/2023

Mr Ó Heafa is an electrician and he commenced working for Veracity Managing Partnerships on September 1st 2018.  He said that everything was going fine until a few weeks before August 2023 when there were a few occasions when his wages were paid late.  When he wasn’t paid any wages for the last week of July and the first week of August 2023 he said that he contacted his employer, who told him that he would pay him when he could.  However, his wages were not paid and his employer didn’t respond to efforts to contact him.  Around the middle of August 2023, having had no contact from his employer, he concluded that he was dismissed.  On September 5th 2023, he submitted complaints to the WRC under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and the Redundancy Payments Act 1967.

These complaints have been submitted under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 (“the Act.”) and relate to the failure of Veracity Managing Partnerships Limited to pay Mr Ó Heafa’s wages for work done during the last two weeks of his employment, the weeks ending on July 28th and August 4th 2023. 

The Relevant Law

Section 1 of the Act provides a definition of wages:

[W]ages in relation to an employee, means any sums payable to the employee by the employer in connection with his employment, including -

(a)  any fee, bonus or commission, or any holiday, sick or maternity pay, or any other emolument, referable to his employment, whether payable under his contract of employment, or otherwise, and,

(b)  any sum payable to the employee upon the termination by the employer of his contract without his having given to the employee the appropriate prior notice of the termination, being a sum paid in lieu of the giving of such notice.

Section 5(6) addresses the circumstances in which wages which are properly payable are not paid:

(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.

From this, we understand that, where wages are properly payable, the failure of an employer to pay such wages is an illegal deduction.

Findings

The complainant’s evidence is that he was not paid his wages for work done in the two weeks ending on July 28th and August 4th 2023.   I am satisfied that the wages which were not paid were properly payable and I find therefore, that by not paying him for the work he did, Veracity Managing Partnerships Limited has made an illegal deduction from his wages.

I decide that this complaint is well founded.  At the hearing, the complainant said that he was working four days a week in the lead up to August 2023 and his wages were therefore reduced.   In accordance with section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act (as amended), I am required to direct the respondent to pay compensation as a net amount.  I decide therefore, that Veracity Managing Partnerships Limited is to pay the complainant compensation of €1,350.

The Relevant Law

Section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (as amended) sets out five specific circumstances in which an employee may be entitled to a redundancy payment, the first of which is:

(a) the fact his employer has ceased or intends to cease to carry on the business for the purpose of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed[.]

Findings

Mr Ó Heafa’s evidence is that, at the beginning of August 2023, his employer ceased operations in the place where he was employed.  On the basis of this evidence, and, in the absence of any evidence on behalf of his former employer, I am satisfied that his job has become redundant.  As he has completed more than two years of service, in accordance with section 7 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, he is entitled to a redundancy payment.

I decide that this complaint is well founded.  Subject to his PRSI contribution status, and, based on his service from September 1st 2018 until August 4th 2023, I decide that Mr Ó Heafa is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment.

Redundancy, payment of wages