Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Marian  Kozak

INDEFF LIMITED

Representatives

  Self-Represented

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CA-00073125-001 WITHDRAWN

04/07/2025

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

CA-00077056-001

03/11/2025

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent, INDEFF Ltd, on 27 November 2017. He was employed continuously until the end of October 2025 in the role of Automation Engineer. His employment was full-time, comprising a standard working week of forty hours, and he was paid monthly.

The Complainant’s gross monthly salary was €7,083.33, giving rise to a net monthly salary of €4,789.27. Wages were contractually payable on the 28th day of each month.

On 3 November 2025, the Complainant submitted a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991. He alleged that the Respondent had failed to pay him his wages for the months of August, September, and October 2025. The total net amount claimed in respect of these unpaid wages was €14,370.

The Complainant gave sworn evidence that he had not been paid his wages for three consecutive months, namely August, September, and October 2025. He confirmed that his net monthly wage was €4,789.27 and that no payment whatsoever was received in respect of each of those months. He explained that payment on the 28th of each month was an established and contractual arrangement and that no explanation or justification for the non-payment of wages was ever provided by the Respondent.

The Complainant further stated that this was not an isolated occurrence and that he had previously been forced to bring an earlier complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission in respect of unpaid wages, which had only been resolved after significant delay. He gave evidence that the Respondent was experiencing financial difficulties and appeared to be selectively paying staff. He confirmed that no lawful deduction had been notified to him, nor had he consented to any deduction from his wages.

The Respondent did not attend the hearing.

Applicable Law:

Section 5 of the Act 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.

Having considered the evidence before me, I find that the Complainant was contractually entitled to be paid his monthly wages and that the Respondent failed to pay him his wages for August, September, and October 2025. I further find that the total net wages properly payable and unpaid amount to €14,370. No lawful basis for the non-payment of wages has been established, and no evidence was presented to suggest that the Respondent was entitled to withhold payment.

CA-00077056-001: 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 €14,370.

Payment of Wages Act 1991.