The Labour Court overturned a €1,712.42 award to Marek Balans after finding that Tesco Ireland Limited had not breached the Payment of Wages Act. Its determination was dated 27 September 2021, following a High Court referral for reconsideration.
Balans, a warehouse operative, argued that his contract entitled him to €11.87 an hour, including a 20% premium for unsocial hours. Tesco said the figure was a mistake and that the collectively agreed rate for his worker category applied. Both sides accepted that the contract contained an error.
The Court considered the wider circumstances of the employment, including the agreed rate for Balans’s category and his contract’s provision that he was bound by applicable collective agreements. It concluded that Balans had not established a breach of the Act, upheld Tesco’s appeal and overturned the Adjudication Officer’s decision.