This case is an appeal by the Respondent against the decision of the Adjudication Officer to the Labour Court in which the Complaint's claim under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 relating to deductions from pay was upheld. The Complainant, Ms. Kehoe, initially worked for Bluebird Care Dublin West, the Respondent from July 2016 to September 2017 as a Care Assistant. She then returned to work for the Respondent in March 2018 as a Social Care Worker for which it was to be agreed she would be paid €15 per hour.

In July 2019, the Complainant met with her manager for a performance appraisal. The manager grew concerned as a result of this meeting that the Complainant did not have the necessary qualifications for a Social Care worker role, (which the Complainant disputed) and in July 2019 the directors of the Respondent decided that the Complainant could not continue in that role and reduced her seniority and pay resulting in a reduction in pay of €3.50 per hour with effect from 1 July 2019.

The Respondent submitted that it was unaware that the Complainant lacked the qualifications necessary for the role of Social Care Worker and, on becoming aware, had no choice but to correct the error and to place the Complainant on the correct pay scale. Section 4 of the Act provides that “an error or omission in good faith shall be regarded as complying with the Act”. The Respondent added further that no unlawful deduction of wages was made as at no point was the Complainant’s salary below her appropriate pay grade.

The Court was of the view that they had no right to determine what the appropriate qualifications for a Social Care worker should be - rather they had to determine whether the Respondent, having identified what they believed to be deficiencies in the Complainant’s qualifications, was entitled to deal with that by introducing a deduction from the Complainant's wages. The Respondent argued that they had no choice but to do what they did.

The Court was of the view that this was not the case as an employer cannot decide unilaterally to cut the wages of an employee as a solution to their view that the contract between the parties has been voided.  Therefore, the court was satisfied that the deduction from the Complainant’s wages was unlawful and overruled the Respondent’s appeal.  
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2021/february/pwd215.html