Courts / Ireland / Report

RTÉ worker had salary doubled in 'administrative error'

Date
2025-04-01
Stage
Hearing Or Decision

Summary

A tribunal ruled that RTÉ had acted unlawfully by failing to pay Mary McLoughlin the salary set out in her contract of employment, after the broadcaster admitted it had accidentally doubled her salary in an administrative error. The Workplace Relations Commission found that the error had increased her pay by about 103%, but the tribunal made a nil award because the breach of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 did not entitle her to compensation. McLoughlin, a copy‑taker who joined RTÉ in 1996 and retired in 2023, had been working under a series of fixed‑term part‑time contracts. She alleged that she was not paid the salary specified in her second post‑retirement contract for nine hours a week on 'Liveline' from 4 April to 4 October 2024.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: RTÉ worker had salary doubled in 'administrative error'. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

Why: RTÉ's position was that because of an "administrative error", the contract presented to Mrs McLoughlin for this period set her salary at "€12,850 gross in total for contract duration", its solicitor Barry Walsh of Fieldfisher LLP said in a legal submission. CNI source report

Case subjects

Mary McLoughlin

Applicant

Topics

Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report

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