Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 November 2018
1011. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if low paid workers in sectors impacted by the VAT increase are protected from a wage cut as a result of the increase such as the case in which a worker paid on the basis of commission has the cost of the increased rate subtracted from their pay while the service remains the same price; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44602/18]
View answerThe Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has a very particular and limited role in relation to wage setting, and this is restricted to the setting of the National Minimum Wage (on the basis of recommendations from the Low Pay Commission). In terms of wage-setting generally, however, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, through its responsibilities for industrial relations matters, has a role with regard to relations between businesses and employers and their employees, and in relation to wage-setting more particularly through mechanisms such as Registered Employment Agreements, Joint Labour Committees and Sectoral Employment Orders, in the context of the industrial relations and wage bargaining spheres. Matters therefore, which do not arise from any unlawful deductions from wages but rather to any knock-on impact on earnings of employees arising from cost-savings measures implemented by employers, would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
The Payment of Wages Act 1991 establishes a range of rights for all employees in relation to payment of wages, one of which is protection against unlawful deductions from wages. However, section 5 of the Act permits an employer to make the following deductions (or receive the following payments) from the wages of an employee :
(a) any deduction (or payment) required or authorised in legislation;
(b) any deduction or payment required or authorised by a term of the employee’s contract; and
(c) any deduction agreed to in writing in advance by the employee.
Any change to an employment contract must be agreed between the employer and the employee. The requirement for both the employer's and the employee's consent to changes in the terms of the contract is part of contract law. It is also important to note that the provisions of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 would continue to apply even in a situation where a negotiated reduction might be agreed between the parties.
The Payment of Wages Act provides that, where an employee considers that there may have been a contravention of the Act, the employee may submit a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) within 6 months of the date of the alleged contravention The Workplace Relations Customer Service Section of the WRC provides information on employees’ rights and how to obtain redress if an employee considers that their employment rights may have been infringed. They can be contacted at Lo-call: 1890 80 80 90 or via its website www.workplacerelations.ie. The Single Complaint Form for submitting complaints regarding breaches of employment rights is also available at www.workplacerelations.ie. An explanatory booklet on the Payment of Wages Act is also available on that website.
