Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Roland  Czaczyk

Deansbridge Couriers Ltd

Representatives

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

CA-00053731-001

15/11/2022

The Complainant worked for the Respondent company for roughly a year. He left in September 2022 and sought payment of his accrued annual leave.

The Complainant attended the hearing and gave evidence under affirmation and made written submissions.

He believes he is owed 10 days annual leave and was paid €500 net per week. The Respondent did not provide payslips or maintain leave records, so this became difficult to verify with them when he began seeking his payment.

The Respondent engaged with him to a point but then stopped replying to his text messages.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing.

Section 5 (1) of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 states:

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.

Section 5 (2) of the Act further states that:

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—

(i) the deduction is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a term (whether express or implied and, if express, whether oral or in writing) of the contract of employment made between the employer and the employee, and

(ii) the deduction is of an amount that is fair and reasonable having regard to all the circumstances (including the amount of the wages of the employee), and

(iii) before the time of the act or omission or the provision of the goods or services, the employee has been furnished with—

(I) in case the term referred to in subparagraph (i) is in writing, a copy thereof,

(II) in any other case, notice in writing of the existence and effect of the term,

and

(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, and

(v) in case the deduction is in respect of compensation for loss or damage sustained by the employer as a result of an act or omission of the employee, the deduction is of an amount not exceeding the amount of the loss or the cost of the damage, and

(vi) in case the deduction is in respect of goods or services supplied or provided as aforesaid, the deduction is of an amount not exceeding the cost to the employer of the goods or services,

I am satisfied that the Respondent was on notice of the hearing and did not attend. The Complainant’s evidence was that his annual leave was owing to him in his final salary but was not provided. This constitutes a deduction from his wages. The Respondent has failed to establish any lawful basis for that deduction.

I find that the complaint is well founded and direct the Respondent to pay the Complainant €1000 net.