Vol. 535 No. 5
97 Mr. Penrose asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her Department has received correspondence from a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath regarding the payment of wages; if so, if she will indicate the action which has been taken in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13145/01]
Correspondence as referred to by the Deputy was received in my Department on 19 April 2001. The matter raised concerns a dispute in relation to the method of payment of wages of certain employees and the procedure for dealing with such disputes was outlined in a response from my Department which issued on 26 April.
The Payment of Wages Act, 1991, established a range of rights for all employees in relation to the payment of wages, including the right to a readily negotiable mode of wage payment. The Act specified a range of legally acceptable modes of wage payment which include cheque, bank draft, postal-money order, credit transfer and cash.
Section 3 of the 1991 Act repealed the Truck Acts, 1831 to 1896, and the Payment of Wages Act, 1979. Transitional arrangements were applied to employees who were paid their wages in cash immediately before the coming into operation of the Act on 1 January 1992. These employees were entitled to continue to get their pay in cash until such time as they came to an agreement with their employer to be paid in some other legally acceptable form.
Any breakdown in such an agreement, or dispute arising thereon, falls to be settled either through direct negotiations between the parties involved or through recourse by them to the State's industrial relations dispute settlement machinery as provided for under the Industrial Relations Acts, 1946 to 1990.
