Background:

The Complainant was employed as a Security Guard for the Respondent company. The Complainant submitted a statement which detailed his standard weekly hours were 39 and overtime hours would be paid at the rate of 1.5 times on transfer to Elite Services. The Complainant’s employment ended in November 2021. The Respondent informed the Complainant ‘Final details of the redundancy payment which will be available to you are included overleaf. This payment includes payment for annual leave accrued and 2 weeks’ notice pay. Your last day of work was therefore 11/11/2021’. Based on the evidence and payslips provided by the Complainant, the Adjudication Officer concluded the Complainant’s contractual end date was the 25th of November 2021, and the relevant period of alleged unlawful deductions continued to the 11th of November 2021’ which was his last working day.

The Adjudication Officer determined the Respondent breached the ERO term concerning the payment of overtime for hours worked in excess of an average 48 hours per week in the roster cycle prescribed by the Employment Regulation Order.

Outcome:

The Adjudication Officer ordered that the Respondent pay the Complainant the sum of €3,000 for breach of the Employment Regulation Order (Security Industry Joint Labour Committee) 2017 S.I. No. 231 of 2017

Practical Guidance for Employers:

When a complaint is brought by an employee to the WRC which concerns the payment of overtime, The Adjudication Officer has authority under Section 45A of the Industrial Relations Act to declare that the complaint was or was not well founded. The Adjudication Officer has authority to require the employer to comply with the Employment Regulation Order. Furthermore, the Adjudication Officer also has authority to require the employer to pay to the worker compensation of such amount (if any) as the adjudication officer considers just and equitable having regard to all of the circumstances, but not exceeding 2 years’ remuneration in respect of the worker’s employment calculated in accordance with regulations under section 17 of the Unfair Dismissals Act. Employers should ensure that they are aware of the appropriate rate of overtime that should be applied.

The full case is here:

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2022/december/adj-00036422.html