The Workplace Relations Commission found that Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) Plc unlawfully deducted wages from electrician Barry Creighton after cutting his working week to three days and his pay to 60% during the pandemic. The decision, dated 13 December 2022, found the complaint well-founded under the Payment of Wages Act.
DAA said reduced hours were a proportionate response to the pandemic’s effect on its revenue and that it paid the wages properly due for the hours worked. The union argued that the cut breached Creighton’s contract and the Act, and said he lost €23,271 in earnings. That figure was the union’s estimate of lost earnings, not an award.
The WRC found no statutory or contractual basis for cutting his hours and said 100% of his wages was properly payable while he worked 60% of normal hours. It found the shortfall was an unlawful deduction, but made no compensation award. In explaining that decision, it cited DAA’s financial challenges, efforts to protect jobs, engagement with the union, advance notice of the change and the opportunity for Creighton to work elsewhere.