WRC rejects Primark worker’s pay complaint over pandemic support payments

A WRC adjudication officer found Romana Vancekova’s complaint against Primark Ltd. t/a Penneys not well founded, ruling that no wages were properly payable for hours she could not work while stores were closed. Vancekova said the support payment left her with a bigger income reduction than colleagues who did not regularly work weekends because it excluded Sunday premiums. The company said its union-agreed payment was 80% of contracted hours and did not include premiums for hours not worked. During the third lockdown, she received €172.43 gross a week, calculated as 80% of 13 hours at €16.58 an hour. The complaint was heard on 27 April 2022 and the decision was dated 24 May 2022.