The Labour Court set aside an Adjudication Officer’s decision and awarded Therese Mulvihill €300 in compensation after finding that Dunnes Stores unlawfully withheld €64.56 in wages. The determination was dated 6 October 2016, following Mulvihill’s appeal under the Payment of Wages Act.
Mulvihill, a night worker, said Dunnes Stores refused to let her work her rostered hours after a strike ended at midnight on 2 April 2015, and did not pay her for those hours. The company argued that wages were not properly due because she had offered only partial performance of her contract. It also argued that the deduction was permitted because she had taken part in the strike.
The Court found that Mulvihill had offered to perform all her rostered duties after the strike. It found no valid basis for cancelling the roster and rejected the company’s argument that the strike permitted a deduction for work time after it had ended. The €64.56 was properly payable, and withholding it breached the Act. The Adjudication Officer had found the complaint not well founded; the Labour Court set that decision aside and awarded €300 compensation.