WRC awards Shane Coyle €720 and €540.24 in Kells Hire Centre case

The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Shane Coyle €720 for a failure to provide written terms of employment and ordered Kells Hire Centre Ltd to pay €540.24, less statutory deductions, for an unlawful wage deduction. The WRC decision was dated 14 May 2024. Coyle worked as a Yard Transport Operative from December 2022 to August 2023. He said he received no written contract or minimum notice payment, and that his pay was cut after he was promised a van. The company said it had offered him a contract, paid his notice and provided a van; it said Coyle requested the pay reduction to qualify for the Housing Assistance Payment scheme. The WRC found the minimum notice complaint was not well founded, deciding that wages due at the end of employment had been paid correctly. It also upheld a second complaint about written terms, but made no additional award for that breach. Compensation is a payment for the breach; the wage deduction award is the amount the WRC ordered returned, less statutory deductions.