The Workplace Relations Commission found that Dehac Retail, trading as Costcutter Rathfarnham, penalised Amanda Clarke Butler after she raised concerns about part of her wages being paid in cash. It ordered the employer to pay her €5,000 redress. The decision was dated 9 August 2024.
Adjudication officer Marie Flynn accepted that Butler’s report about the wage payment qualified as a protected disclosure. The employer disputed the complaint and said it had paid her in cash since 2020. Flynn found that their working relationship had already deteriorated after a new store manager was appointed, before Butler made the disclosure, and that the disclosure was not the sole cause of the wider problems.
But Flynn found that questioning Butler about taking leave after Christmas, following her disclosure, amounted to penalisation. The complaint was partly well founded. The investigation covered alleged events before the WRC received the complaint referral; later alleged penalisation was outside its scope.