Labour Court varies au pair wage award to €4,794.30 on employer’s appeal

The Labour Court disallowed Ms Anita Byrne’s appeal and varied the Adjudication Officer’s decision, directing her to pay Ms Gloria Rubio-Piment €4,794.30 in wage arrears. The determination was signed on 30 April 2020; the earlier award was €5,931. Ms Rubio-Piment worked as an au pair for Ms Byrne from August 2017 to May 2018. She said she worked substantially more than the 25 hours a week Ms Byrne claimed. The Court accepted her account after finding Ms Byrne had kept no required hours records and had not discharged the burden of showing compliance with the National Minimum Wage Act. It found the complaint well founded. The Court also rejected the argument that the complaint was out of time: Ms Rubio-Piment had requested a statement of her average hourly pay in November 2018, and referred her complaint within the applicable time limit.