The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Cushla Health Systems Limited to pay former chief medical officer David Morris €88,134 for unlawful deductions from his wages. The decision was dated 18 September 2024.
Morris said he was owed salary for January to May 2024, three months’ notice pay and payment for ten days of accrued annual leave. The company accepted liability for salary through March, notice pay and annual leave, but disputed that it owed salary for April and May, arguing that his employment had ended on 3 April.
The adjudication officer found that Morris’s employment definitively ended on 30 May, when the chief executive emailed to terminate it. The company had placed Morris on unpaid lay-off without meeting statutory notification requirements, and his contract did not allow unpaid lay-off without pay. The officer found that the April and May non-payment was not authorised by law or contract and had not been authorised in writing by Morris.
The complaint was declared well founded. The award covered unpaid salary, notice pay and accrued annual leave.