Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Cristian  Anghel

Magic Particle Limited t/a Sugarhosts.Com

Representatives

Self-Represented

No Appearance

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-00075362-001

10/09/2025

Background

The Complainant, Mr Cristian Anghel, was employed by the Respondent, Magic Particle Limited, as a Sales Support Technician. He commenced employment on 28 January 2019. The Complainant worked full-time, averaging 40 hours per week, and was paid on a monthly basis. His net monthly pay was €1,759.59. The employment relationship continued until the Complainant’s resignation in September 2025. The complaint before me is confined to a claim under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 in respect of alleged non-payment of wages for June, July and August 2025 and part of September 2025. The Complainant stated at the commencement of the hearing that I should also address a complaint of constructive dismissal. I am satisfied that no formal complaint of constructive dismissal was received by the Workplace Relations Commission, nor could it be discerned from narrative in his complaint form of 11 September 2025 that he had made a formal complaint of constructive dismissal.

The Complainant gave sworn evidence at the hearing. The Respondent did not attend and did not contest the claim. Accordingly, the evidence of the Complainant was uncontradicted.

The Complainant stated that he had not received any wages for the months of June, July, and August 2025. He confirmed that his net monthly wage was €1,759.59 and that he had historically been paid around the 28th of each month.

He outlined that he contacted the Respondent on numerous occasions seeking payment of his wages but received no satisfactory response. This is consistent with his written submitted statement wherein he detailed repeated requests for payment in July 2025 and thereafter, with no reply from the Respondent after 30 July 2025. The Complainant further stated that he continued working into September 2025, having submitted his resignation on 11 September 2025, and worked until approximately 29 September 2025.

The Complainant gave evidence that, in addition to the three months’ unpaid wages, he was also owed wages for 11 days worked in September 2025. He calculated this on a pro-rata basis using his monthly net salary, arriving at a figure of approximately €703 net.

The Complainant therefore claimed a total net amount of €5,980, comprising:

• €5,278 for June, July and August 2025 (three months’ net pay), and
• €703 for 11 days worked in September 2025.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing.

Applicable Law:

Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991  in its applicable parts provides:

(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.

(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.

(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 previously mentioned) are paid to the employee,

then, except as 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.

Section 5(1) of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 provides that an employer shall not make a deduction from an employee’s wages unless such deduction is required or authorised by law, authorised by the employee’s contract of employment, or made with the prior written consent of the employee. A failure to pay wages properly due constitutes an unlawful deduction within the meaning of the Act. I am satisfied, based on the uncontested sworn evidence of the Complainant, that he did not receive wages properly payable to him within the meaning of the Payment of Wages Act 1991. The complaint was well founded.

The Complainant is entitled to the following net sums:

• €5,278 in respect of unpaid wages for June, July, and August 2025; and
• €703 in respect of wages due for 11 days worked in September 2025.

This amounts to a total of €5,980.

For the reasons outlined above I find the complaint was well founded and I direct the Respondent to pay the complainant the net sum of €5980.

Payment of Wages Act 1990. Wages Properly Payable.