Labour Court varies CLS Recruitment award to Joseph Kuyewawa

The Labour Court varied an adjudication officer’s decision on 13 May 2022, directing CLS Recruitment Group Ltd to pay Mr Joseph Kuyewawa €161 for annual leave and €74.40 for public holidays. Kuyewawa’s appeal concerned his complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. Kuyewawa was an agency worker assigned to a client company. CLS accepted it was his employer for the purposes of his terms and conditions, although it argued the client was responsible for compliance with the Act. A linked claim had established that Kuyewawa was a Category B construction worker entitled to the applicable hourly rate of €17.50. He had been paid €13.75 an hour through December 2019 and €15.70 from January 2020. The Court found that the lower rates left annual leave pay short by €161 and public holiday pay short by €74.40. It said the Act did not allow it to interpret or enforce the construction sector order, but found the holiday pay calculations breached the Act. CLS was directed to make both payments within six weeks. The appeal did not succeed, and the earlier decision was varied.