The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Iurie Borta €6,161.53 in statutory redundancy and €1,000 compensation for underpayment of the Category B rate. The decision was dated 6 March 2023.
Borta, who worked for PJ McLoughlin Ltd, said he was entitled to Category A pay after occasionally driving a site dumper, the correct Category B rate and country money. The employer said he was a general operative who did not qualify for Category A pay and had no entitlement to country money.
The WRC found occasional dumper driving did not make heavy machine operation a core part of Borta’s duties, so the Category A complaint was not well founded. It found he had been paid €17.04 an hour instead of the applicable €17.50 Category B rate and awarded €1,000. His country money complaint was also not well founded.
The WRC upheld Borta’s redundancy appeal, finding he met the statutory conditions after being laid off without work available. It ordered the employer to pay €6,161.53 in statutory redundancy, calculated using his service and the scheme’s weekly wage ceiling.