Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Iwona  MacKowska

Phoenix Cleaning Dublin

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Representatives

  Self

 Did not attend

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-00070381-001

29/03/2025

The Complainant worked as a cleaner for the Respondent.  She commenced employment on 05/11/2024.  Her pay was €14.00 per hour, and she was contracted for a minimum of 20 hours.  She was paid in November 2024, left short in December 2024 and received no pay for January 2025.   The Complainant submitted her complaint to the WRC on 29/03/2025.

The Complainant gave evidence on oath.  She confirmed that she commenced employment on 05/11/2024 with the Respondent.   Her agreed rate of pay was €14.00 per hour, and this was confirmed by the Respondent in writing.  She was paid for November 2024 and in December 2024 she received a pay slip which showed the correct number of hours worked and the pay due.  She worked 80 hours and was due €1,222.38.  The Complainant gave evidence that the amount she received in her account was €700.00 leaving her a shortfall of €522.38.  The Complainant opened a copy of her bank statement at the hearing for that period which showed the payment of €700.00 from the Respondent.  The Complainant gave evidence that her pay slip for January 2025 showed the correct number of hours worked as 40 and she was due a payment of €748.88.  The Complainant showed her bank statement for that period and subsequent months and there is no evidence of any payment from the Respondent.  The Complainant stated that as a result of this she looked for and found alternative employment.  She is seeking payment of all the money due which is a total of €1,271.26.

The Respondent or a representative on their behalf did not attend the hearing.  I am satisfied that the Respondent was properly notified of the date, time and venue of the hearing.

The Complainant, in her written submissions, and at the hearing outlined that she commenced employment with the Respondent on 05/11/2024. She was due to be paid €1,222.38 for December 2024 and was paid €700.00 leaving a shortfall of €522.38.  She received no pay for January 2025 and her pay slip confirms that she was due €748.88.  The total amount due is €1,271.26.

By way of a preliminary observation, I am satisfied a Contract of Employment existed between the parties such that a wage defined by the 1991 Act was payable to the Complainant by the Respondent in connection with the employment.

I find that the Complainant’s Workplace Relations Complaint Form dated 29/03/2025 was submitted within the time allowed.

Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 provides as follows:

“(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,

(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.

(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.”

In Marek Balans v Tesco Ireland Limited [2020] IEHC 55 Finnegan J. considered Section 5 of the Act as follows:

“Section 5 of the Act of 1991 prohibits the making of deductions from wages save in certain circumstances. Section 5(6) provides that where 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, then, except insofar as the deficiency or non – payment is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency or non – payment should be treated as a deduction made by the employer from the wages of the employee on the occasion. Central to the court's analysis must be the concepts of wages properly payable and the circumstances in which, if there is a deficiency in respect of those such payments, it arose as a result of an error of computation”.

What Amount is Properly Payable?

The Act provides that where the total amount of wages properly payable to an employee is not paid, any deficiency is regarded as a deduction. Consequently, to ground a claim under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 an Adjudication Officer needs in the first instance to ascertain what wages are properly payable. The starting point for assessing what is properly payable is the contract of employment.

In this case, the Complainant asserts that her contractual entitlement to a payment arises from her written terms and conditions which states that her rate of pay is €14.00 per hour “from the date of signing the contract”.  The terms also provide for a deduction of €15.00 towards the cost of a uniform and a further €15.00 should the Complainant leave the employment within a 6-month period.

Was there a shortfall in payment?

Section 5(1) of the Act prohibits an employer from making deductions to an employee's wages except in accordance with the provisions of that section.

The Complainant is entitled, under the provisions of her terms and conditions to be paid the rate of €14.00 per hour.  From reviewing the pay slips provided by the Respondent to the Complainant these show that the Complainant worked a total of 80 hours in December 2024 and was due the sum of €1,222.38.  The Complainant’s bank statement confirms that the Respondent only transferred €700.00.  The Complainant’s pay slip for January 2025 show that the Complainant worked 40 hours and was due the sum of €748.88.  Her bank statement does not show any payment by the Respondent. 

Based on the uncontested evidence and the supporting documentation provided I find that the complaint is well founded, and the Complainant is due the sum of €1,271.26.

I find that this complaint is well founded, and I direct the Respondent to pay the Complainant the sum of €1,271.26 within 42 days of the date of this decision.

Non-payment of wages.