Hairdresser wins €1,200 holiday pay, discrimination complaint fails

The Workplace Relations Commission directed a hair salon to pay a hairdresser €1,200 for unpaid annual leave and public holidays. It also found her separate discrimination complaint was not well founded. The decision was dated 11 October 2023. The salon agreed it had not paid for the hairdresser’s outstanding holidays. The adjudicator found she had five days of annual leave remaining and accepted that she was owed pay for 10 days in total, including public holidays. The award comprises €700 in arrears and €500 for breach of her statutory right to payment for outstanding holidays. On discrimination, the hairdresser said the salon should have allowed her to go home when she felt unable to continue working. The adjudicator found that she had not asked for reasonable accommodation during her employment and decided that the complaint was not well founded.