PWD2012

The complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission was made on 21^st May 2018. The Adjudication Officer held that the claim was not well-founded.

Summary position of the Appellant

The Appellant submitted that she had been paid lesser wages than that which was properly payable to her on 7^th March 2018 and 27^th March 2018. She submitted that when she received her wages on 7^th March 2018 her bank had applied a charge of €6.35 to her account. On 27^th March 2018 the bank applied the same charge and a deduction of €7.72 was made on the same date by the Respondent.

The Appellant submitted that the sum of these deductions was €20.42 and that these deductions amounted to unlawful deductions within the meaning of the Act.

Summary position of the Respondent.

The Respondent submitted that the impugned deductions were (a) a sum of €12.70 in the form of bank charges applied by the Appellant’s bank which were not deductions made by the Respondent and consequently could not be unlawful deductions within the meaning of the Act, and (b) a deduction of €7.72 being the Universal Social Charge payable by law by the Appellant.

The Respondent submitted that it had, without prejudice, made a payment of €25.00 to the Appellant in respect of these matters on 13^th March 2018 in respect of past and future deductions.

The Law

The Act at Section 5 in relevant part provides 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,
  6(a) “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 and Conclusion

It is clear to the Court that two of the alleged deductions, each in the amount of €6.35, were in fact charges applied by the Appellant’s bank. Consequently, the Court must conclude that neither of these amounts constituted a deduction made by the Respondent within the meaning of the Act. The Respondent made payment to her on each occasion of the wages properly payable to the Appellant and her bank subsequently applied a charge to her bank account on each occasion. Those charges are a matter between the Appellant and her bank and not a matter arising under the Act.

It is also clear that the impugned deduction made by the Respondent of €7.72 was in fact a deduction required by statute in that it amounted to the Universal Social Charge payable by the Appellant on the occasion. Consequently, having regard to the Act at Section 5(1)(a), the Court must conclude that the deduction was lawful.

Determination

The Court determines that the Respondent was not in breach of the Act and that none of the impugned amounts constituted unlawful deductions within the meaning of the Act.

The appeal fails and the decision of the Adjudication Officer is affirmed.

The Court so determines.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Kevin Foley
DC ______________________
12 February 2020 Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to David Campbell, Court Secretary.