Haulage firm ordered to pay driver €914.40 in unpaid wages

The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Tom Winter T/A Tom Winter Haulage to pay HGV driver Arunas Vaitiekaitis €914.40 less statutory deductions for unpaid wages. Adjudication officer Ewa Sobanska issued the decision, dated 25 October 2024. Vaitiekaitis worked eight days, averaging nine hours a day, from 15 January 2024 before resigning on 23 January. He said he had not been paid. The respondent did not attend the hearing, and the officer was satisfied it had notice of the hearing and had not sought a postponement. The officer accepted Vaitiekaitis’s evidence, which was supported by text messages, and found that he had received no pay for the work. The Payment of Wages Act complaint was well founded. The officer said the award was based on the national minimum wage calculation, with statutory deductions to be applied.