PWD257

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ- 00049131

BACKGROUND:

This is an appeal of an Adjudication Officer’s Decision made pursuant to the Payment of Wages Act, 1991. The appeal was heard by the Labour Court in accordance with Section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015. 

The following is the Court's Determination:

DECISION:

This is an appeal by Carmelo Bompiedi against Adjudication Officer’s Decision ADJ-00049131 CA-00060379-002 given under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 in a claim against his employer Accenture Ltd that he suffered an unlawful deduction from his wages.  The Adjudication Officer found that the Act was not contravened.

In this Determination the parties are referred to as they were at first instance.  Hence Accenture Ltd is referred to as ‘the Respondent’ and Carmelo Bompiedi as ‘the Complainant’. The complaint was lodged with the WRC on 5 December 2023 and therefore the cognisable period as defined by the Act is 6 July 2023 to 5 December 2023.

 Background 

 The Complainant   was employed by the Respondent from 26 April 2021 until 14 October 2023 as a PST Analyst. By email of 27 September 2023, he notified the Respondent of his resignation and final day in work being 14 October 2023. 

Summary of Complainants case

 The Complainant submitted that there was an unlawful deduction from his wages during the relevant period when Respondent recouped an overpayment. He also submitted that he believed he had not been paid for annual leave and that he did not get paid for two weeks he worked in October prior to resigning. In the course of his submission the Complainant also stated that he believed he was paid in arrears and therefore due payment when his employment ceased.

Summary of Respondent’s case 

The Respondent’s representative denied that there was any unlawful deduction. She opened payslips to the Court which showed that he was paid all annual leave due and was paid for his last two weeks work in Ocotber,2023. The representative confirmed that the Respondent did not pay in arrears and that the Complainant in fact was overpaid but they were not seeking to recover the remaining overpayment at this stage.

The applicable law

Section 5 of the Payment of Wage Act 1991 deals with regulation of certain deductions made and payments received by employers and in particular section 5(6) states,

“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”.

Discussion

In the course of the hearing the Complainant accepted that, he was not paid in arrears, that based on the payslips produced he was paid for his annual leave, and that he was paid for his last two weeks of employment.  He also accepted that he had received full salary along with social welfare payment while absent on sick leave which created an overpayment. He accepted that the deduction on his payslip was in respect of same. On the basis that the Complainant has failed to identify a deduction contrary to the Act that had occurred during the relevant period, his appeal must fail. 

Determination

 The appeal fails

The decision of the Adjudication Officer is upheld.

The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
CC	______________________
4th March 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary.