Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Stefan  O Hanrahan

 KS Electrical Ltd

Representatives

  Self - Represented

 Self - Represented

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-00074099-001

06/08/2025

The Complainant states that he commenced employment with the Respondent doing electrical work working as site Foreman on 23 October 2024. The Complainant states that he has 20 years on site experience and also has a degree in management. The Complainant states that he negotiated the fee for the Foreman role at interview.

The Complainant states that his last day of employment with the Respondent was on 21 July 2025. He states that he ended his employment with the Respondent with immediate effect on that day due to not being paid on time for the entire months of May and June. The Complainant states that due to him not been paid on time, it had a significant impact on his application for a mortgage, and due to the unreliability of not getting his wages, he had to dip in and out of his savings to make sure that all the bills were paid on time.

The Complainant stated that had he not had any savings, he would have been in dire straits at this juncture.  The Complainant states that it has been a hugely stressful period, not knowing each Friday if he would get paid or not.

The Complainant outlined that he has a young family and just had a new baby in July, so this was additional worry on top of not being paid. The Complainant states that employees were moved from being paid weekly to fortnightly but this did not change anything and they never got paid on time. The Complainant states that it could be a week later and then the pay would come through.

The Complainant states that all he wanted was his weeks wages, which was due on 1 August and his holiday pay which he was told would be paid on 15 August. The Complainant states that he is due payment for 8 days in respect of unpaid wages and holiday pay.

The Complainant states that he has been treated most unfairly by the Respondent and has suffered stress as a result of the adverse treatment by the Respondent actions. 

The Complainant presented a witness Mr D, who also previously worked for the Respondent. Mr D stated that employees had huge difficulties in getting paid on time and corroborated the Complainant’s statement. Mr D stated that he also had to leave the employment of the Respondent due to the adverse impact of not receiving his wages on time.  

The Respondent states that the Complainant worked for the company under false pretences. The Respondent states that the Complainant was not a qualified electrician and that he was carrying out electrical work without the required qualifications.

The Respondent states that the Complainant was getting paid at a rate far in excess of what his qualifications allowed for.

The Respondent states that the Complainant has been requested to provide his electrical qualification papers and that payment would be made once the required documentation was provided. The Respondent states that to date, no information or documentation in this regard has been provided by the Complainant.

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

“5. (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.”

And

“5(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.”

I have carefully examined the evidence adduced in the within matter. I note that the Complainant was not provided with a contract of employment. I found the Complainant to be a credible witness who provided cogent and compelling testimony. I found the testimony of Mr D,  witness for the Complainant to be persuasive, in that, he corroborated the statement by the Complainant. Mr D stated that similar to the Complainant, his wages were not paid on time and he also had to leave the employment and source alternative work due to the adverse impact of the Respondent actions. I found the evidence of the Respondent to be lacking in credibility and unconvincing.

Based on the evidence heard, I find that the Complainant has established a breach of the Payment of Wages Act. I am satisfied that the Complainant is owed wages and holiday pay in respect of 8 days which remain outstanding in the amount of €1760.

I find the complaint to be well-founded.

The complaint herein is well-founded. I order the Respondent to pay the Complainant the amount of €1760.00.

Payment of Wages Act