Employees who have been laid off without pay should review their Employment Contract to ascertain if there is any clause in the contract that permits the employer not to pay the employee during lay-off.
If there is no express or implied term permitting a lay-off without pay, and the employee is not paid wages, then this may be in breach of a person’s Employment Contract.
There is a common law right to payment if there is no contractual provision for no wages payment during the lay-off.
If there is no clause in the contract permitting a lay-off without pay, the next point to consider is if there is a custom and practice in the workplace regarding a general provision to pay employees on lay-off.
If this situation arises in the workplace, the employee may be entitled to rely upon S. 5 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, which prohibits wage deductions if one of the following does not arise :
( 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.
(2) An employer shall not make a deduction from the wages of an employee in respect of—
( a) any act or omission of the employee, or
( b) any goods or services supplied to or provided for the employee by the employer the supply or provision of which is necessary to the employment.
Complaint to Workplace Relations Commission
If an unlawful wage deductions arises, the employee makes the complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission under S.41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015.
Disclaimer
Please be advised that the above-mentioned material is intended as an overview and as a broad out-line of the topic discussed. It should not be considered as complete and comprehensive legal advice, nor act as an appropriate substitute. Legal advice should be sought from a solicitor prior to relying on anything in this article.
Due care has been taken in the publication of this article and we do not accept legal liability as a result of reliance on any material covered in the above article.