Background:

The Complainant worked with the Respondent since 12 December 2016 as a Customer Assistant,20-25 hours per week. The Complainant received a cancer diagnosis and was out sick from 13 June 2021 to 19 September 2021, a period of 14 weeks. During this time, the Complainant was eligible for paid sick leave, less any entitlement to social welfare. The Complainant was only eligible for €1 a week from social welfare, and so applied to the Respondent to only have this amount deducted from her paid sick leave. Despite this, the Respondent deducted a cumulative total of €832 for the eight weeks of paid sick leave to which the Complainant was entitled, despite only receiving €8 from social welfare illness benefit during this time. The Complainant alleged therefore that €824 of that deduction was unlawful and contrary to the Payment of Wages Act 1991 (the Act).  

The Respondent produced policy documents which showed how its sick pay scheme operated. One amendment document provided that for all staff hired after 1 January 2012 who did not work full-time hours and do not have an illness benefit entitlement will be subject “to a reduced (pro-rata) adjustment to their Company sickpay reflecting their actual rostered hours.” The Respondent showed that this pro-rata calculation was done by taking the 2021 rate for illness benefit (€203 weekly), dividing this by 40 hours per week, and then multiplying this figure by the number of hours worked by the Complainant (20 hours per week). This figure, multiplied by eight weeks, resulted in the €832 deducted, and this deduction was not one of payment “properly payable” and therefore was not contrary to the Act. 

Outcome:

The Labour Court first considered whether the “wages” (which includes sick pay) in dispute were “properly payable.” In doing so, the Court considered the Respondent’s sick leave rules and their applicability. Having considered the terms of the scheme and its operation, the Court found the Complainant was properly paid what they were entitled to under the terms of the sick pay scheme. This meant the deduction was not an unlawful deduction of wages. The complaint failed. 

Practical Guidance for Employers:

Documentation processes for things like sick pay schemes can often be painfully technical, but cases like this can show the reason why they are. An even better approach for the employer, however, may have been to make the sick pay policy even simpler and easier to understand, as it is likely the cost of litigating this claim through the WRC and the Labour Court exceeded the potential claim! 

The full case is here:
 https://www.workplacerelations.ie/wrc/en/cases/2023/july/pwd2311.html