Surge in rights claims under wages legislation

A SURGE in the number of people making claims under the Payment of Wages Act has prompted the Rights Commissioners to dedicate four commissioners to dealing with the workload.

Figures obtained by Industrial Relations News show that almost 6,000 individuals currently have claims lodged with the commissioner under the act — up from 3,600 last summer.

The Payment of Wage Act gives employees the “right to a readily negotiable mode of wage payment, a right to a written statement of wages and deductions, and protection against unlawful deductions from wages”.

Any deduction from wages must be provided for in the contract of employment and the amount of the deduction must be “fair and reasonable having regard to all the circumstances including the amount of the wages of the employee”.

The employee must get prior notice of the cut.

Therefore, claims are taken under the Payment of Wages Act when an employee believes their pay has been cut without their agreement or where unions are seeking redress.

They must do so within six months of the date of the deduction. At that point the Rights Commissioner will give both sides a chance to air their positions before giving a written decision.

If he or she finds in favour of the claimant they can offer compensation up to twice the amount of the deduction if it is in excess of one week’s net wage.

Given the workload, four of the 15 rights commissioners are to be dedicated to the cases from March 1.

According to IRN, that initiative is being used to process situations where 15 or more similar claims are being made against the same employer.

Initially, an attempt was made to identify test cases in the different types of employment, to form common ground and hasten the process. However, there were significant differences within each group of workers’ claims.