Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Mihaela Graminschii

Northbridge Medical Limited

Representatives

Represented herself 

Represented by a director

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00071800-001

22/05/2025

The complainant commenced employment as a secretary in the respondent’s medical practice on August 16th 2022.  She said that she was a part-time worker and she was paid an hourly rate of €20.00.  She resigned on January 6th 2025.

Following her resignation, the complainant said that she wasn’t paid for holidays that she didn’t take in 2024.  She said that she took some days off in the early part of the year, but she couldn’t remember how many days.  She relies on section 6.6 of her contract of employment, which under the heading of Annual Leave, provides as follows:

“On leaving the practice, any pro rata annual leave entitlement accrued but not taken will be paid.”

Based on the number of hours which the complainant worked in 2024, she claims an entitlement to 33 hours’ holiday pay.

She also complains that she didn’t receive a bonus paid to her in February in 2023 and 2024 for the previous calendar years.

For the respondent, Dr Dillon pointed to clause 6.2 of the Annual Leave section of the complainant’s contract of employment which provides as follows:

“You must ensure that you take your annual leave within the relevant year of entitlement.  No payment can be made in lieu of holidays as this is against legislative requirements.”

Dr Dillon said that she sent the complainant a text message in 2022 in which she confirmed the requirement to take annual leave before the end of the year.  She said that the complainant read this message and that the requirement applied to the leave years in 2023 and 2024 also.  Based on this provision, Dr Dillon argued that the complainant has no entitlement to holiday pay in respect of holidays not taken in 2024.

Responding to the claim for a bonus, Dr Dillon said that the complainant had no contractual entitlement to a bonus.  She said that the complainant was given a One for All voucher at Christmas 2024, but that bonuses are paid to employees in February each year.  As the complainant was not in employment in February, Dr Dillon’s position is that she was not entitled to a bonus. 

Holiday Pay

Section 23(1) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 sets out the entitlements of employees at the cessation of their employment:

(1) (a) Where -

(i) an employee ceases to be employed, and

(ii) the whole or any portion of the annual leave in respect of the relevant period remains to be granted to the employee, 

the employee shall, as compensation for the loss of that annual leave, be paid by his or her employer an amount equal to the pay, calculated at the normal weekly rate or, as the case may be, at a rate proportionate to the normal weekly rate, that he or she would have received had he or she been granted that annual leave. 

I accept fully that the respondent instructed the complainant to take her holidays before the end of each year.  It is the responsibility of the employer however, to ensure that employees take their holidays and to maintain holiday records, and, in the absence of any evidence that the respondent rostered the complainant for holidays on specific dates, it is my view that she is legally entitled to pay for the holidays she did not take.

In accordance with s.19(1)(c) of the Act, as a part-time worker, the complainant was entitled to paid holidays based on 8% of the hours that she worked.   She said that she generally worked for 10 hours per day.  Based on a document submitted by Dr Dillon, I estimate that the complainant worked an average of 62 hours each month, equivalent to 743 hours annually.  As she was entitled to 8% of the hours she worked as annual leave, she was entitled to 59.5 hours’ holidays.  I note also the complainant’s evidence that she took some holidays in the early part of 2024.  In the absence of records, I estimate that she took three days’ holidays, equivalent to 30 hours, leaving her with an outstanding entitlement to 29.5 hours’ holiday pay at the termination of her employment.   

Bonus Pay

The payment of a bonus was not a contractual entitlement and the fact that the complainant received a bonus in February 2023 and again in February 2024 does not establish an entitlement to a bonus in December 2024 or January 2025.

I decide that the aspect of this complaint regarding holiday pay is well founded.  As compensation for holiday pay due at the termination of her employment, I direct the respondent to pay the complainant €590.00, equivalent to 29.5 hours’ holiday pay at €20.00 per hour.  This award is subject to deductions of tax, PRSI and USC.

Holiday pay, termination of employment