The Workplace Relations Commission required Sewing Service to pay a Sewing Machinist €74,668.51 for minimum wage underpayment, and upheld four other complaints. Adjudication Officer Seán Reilly dated the decision 16 January 2018.
The machinist worked for Sewing Service from 2004. She said her piece-rate pay fell below the minimum wage and that she had not received annual leave or public holiday pay. Sewing Service disputed those claims but accepted that it had not provided a written statement of her employment terms and that holiday payments were outstanding.
Reilly upheld the minimum wage complaint because Sewing Service had no records to support its claim that it paid part of her wages in cash, and had not met its burden of proof. The WRC also required Sewing Service to pay €1,300 for the missing employment statement, €3,000 for annual leave and €300 for public holidays. The decision states that four weeks’ annual leave was due and that two public holidays were unpaid.
The WRC rejected the constructive dismissal complaint. Reilly found the machinist had not put Sewing Service on notice of serious issues or given it an opportunity to address them.