The Labour Court rejected McSweeney Assets Group Holdings Limited’s appeal and upheld the €30,000 award to Connor McGleenon for an unpaid bonus. In a determination dated 12 July 2016, the Court affirmed the Adjudication Officer’s decision that withholding the bonus was an unauthorised deduction from wages.
McGleenon worked for the company for 19 years before being made redundant. He said an agreement with managing director Pat Durkin entitled him to a €30,000 bonus after three more years of service, with payment deferred until a specified event, including redundancy. The company argued that the complaint was out of time and that the bonus was not yet due.
The Court accepted Durkin’s evidence that he made the agreement and considered the bonus due on redundancy. It found he had authority to make it and that the company had affirmed the agreement by implementing three of its four elements. The Court concluded that redundancy triggered payment and that the bonus counted as wages under the Payment of Wages Act 1991.