ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00018917
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Web Developer | A Web Company |
Representatives |
|
|
Complaint:
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-00024451-001 | 27/12/2018 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 07/06/2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Louise Boyle
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.
Background:
The complainant detailed that she regularly did not receive her pay on time or in full and that the respondent breached his commitment to pay these wages. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The complainant commenced employment on 5th June 2017 and left on 29th June 2018.
She had been advised that she would be paid on the 28th of each month but on a regular occasion the respondent did not pay her on time or in full. The respondent committed by email on 23 August 2018 to pay the outstanding monies over a defined period between August 2018 to January 2019 totalling €7,980.77. The respondent failed to honour his commitment and paid only €2,500 of the amount owed. The complainant is still owed €5,480.77 nett. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
In advance of the hearing, the Respondent contacted the Workplace Relations Commission on 15th May and advised of their intention to meet with the complainant and was working on a repayment plan. The respondent was advised that the hearing was still scheduled to proceed. The respondent did not attend the hearing. I confirmed that a letter had issued notifying the Respondent of the date, time and location of the hearing, and in the circumstances, I find that their non-attendance without any acceptable explanation to be unexplained in the circumstances. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The complainant detailed that she is owed outstanding pay and that the respondent by email on 23 August 2018 committed to pay the outstanding amounts by instalments. The respondent did not attend on the day.
Section 5 (1) details that “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— (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, and (vii) the deduction or, if the total amount payable to the employer by the employee in respect of the act or omission or the goods or services is to be so paid by means of more than one deduction from the wages of the employee, the first such deduction is made not later than 6 months after the act or omission becomes known to the employer or, as the case may be, after the provision of the goods or services.”
Based on the credible evidence of the complainant I find that the complainant’s claim is well founded and that the complainant is owed outstanding wages totalling €5,480.77 nett. |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
I find that the claim succeeds and I order the respondent to pay to the complainant the appropriate wages of €5,480.77 nett. |
Dated: 19th June 2019
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Louise Boyle