WRC rejects special needs assistant’s claim over two days’ deducted pay

The Workplace Relations Commission found Laura Casey’s complaint over two days’ deducted pay was not well founded. The decision, dated 10 February 2023, concerned her work as a special needs assistant at Elphin College. Casey said she understood there would be no work on 3 and 4 June 2021 after being told there would not be work and seeing no work scheduled. She said the school later withheld her wages because her absence was treated as unauthorised leave. The school said its calendar showed the academic year ended on 4 June and that work for special needs assistants was planned into June. It also said a meeting about the work had begun on 2 June and was due to continue the next day, but Casey did not attend. The adjudication officer did not accept Casey’s account that she believed there was no work. The officer found she was required to attend the reconvened meeting and that her leave on 3 and 4 June was unauthorised. Her complaint under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 failed.