ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00059214
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Gareth Marshall | Air Force H&V |
Complaint:
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-00071851-001 | 24/05/2025 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 28/10/2025
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act, following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The complainant gave evidence on oath. He had been on annual leave in mid-April and noticed that he had not been paid for the previous two-week period. He, and his colleagues continued working for a third week, but it became clear that they would not be paid so they stopped working. The complainant believes the owner allowed them to continue working knowing that they would not be paid. He then disappeared and there was no further communication from him about the future of the business until April 21st when he showed up to announce that it was going into liquidation. The employees were left without redundancy payment and wages owed. The complainant is owed three weeks wages in the amount of €2,100.00 and payment for six days untaken annual leave in the amount of €600.00. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The respondent did not attend the hearing. Correspondence was received form the liquidator on the morning of the hearing which is addressed below in the Findings. |
Findings and Conclusions:
The complainant was an honest and persuasive witness and evidence of the failure to pay wages was credible. The decision by the liquidator not to attend was based on the fact that the events giving rise to the complaint had preceded its appointment. Everything, or most things a liquidator has to deal with preceded their appointment and the complainant was owed the courtesy of some indication as to when he and his colleagues might expect to be paid. He also asserted in correspondence that the complainant had been paid. I prefer the complainant’s sworn evidence on this point and find that the complaint is well founded, and the complainant is entitled to a total of €3,100.00 in wages (and annual leave payments) properly payable to him. |
Decision:
Section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act.
For the reason set out above complaint CA-71851-001 is well founded and I direct that the respondent pay the complainant €3,100.00 |
Dated: 09-03-2026
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Pat Brady
Key Words:
Unpaid Wages |