A vet who had so much money unlawfully cut from his wages last winter that his bank account was cleared out and he couldn’t put diesel in his work van has secured an order for over €3,000 against his former employer.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard Alonso Serrano Laborda was already working out his notice at the start of February this year when his employer sent him just €533 in wages for January, which should have been €2,500.
His complaints under the payment of Wages Act against Thomas Joseph Heneghan, trading as Castle Vets, were upheld by the WRC in a newly-published decision.
Mr Serrano Laborda told the tribunal he travelled from Spain to take up work as a large animal vet in Mr Heneghan’s practice from October 18th last year, dealing with cattle, sheep and some horses.
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He gave evidence that he took the job on the agreement that he would be paid €1,000 for October, with his pay rising to €2,000 in November and then €2,500 from December.
“He didn’t pay me my whole increase for January, he didn’t even pay me an increase of the salary – it’s €500 per month for December and January,” Mr Serrano Laborda said.
He said he got just €533 gross pay for January 2022 – a shortfall of €1,467 from the “incorrect” gross salary of €2,000.
In a written statement sent to the WRC, Mr Heneghan said there had been a deduction of €1,000 from Mr Serrano Laborda’s pay as “compensation” to a customer for an alleged mistake by the complainant.
Mr Serrano Laborda said there was “no evidence of any payment to the client in respect of any mistake by him” and disputed the potential cost.
He added that his written terms of employment did not allow for his pay to be docked and he never agreed to a deduction.
The complainant gave notice that he was quitting on January 14th this year, he told the WRC.
He said he sent messages at the start of February about not getting his full pay for January before eventually telling Mr Henaghan on February 2nd that he had “no money in his account”.
He “could not put diesel in the van to do a call which was an hour away” on that date, he told the tribunal.
In response, Mr Heneghan told him to “leave the keys of the van back into the office”, adding that he was “no longer insured” as his employment was “terminated”.
The complainant maintained he had been prevented from working out two weeks of his contractual notice period, which should have run until February 14th.
Mr Heneghan’s statement referred to a further deduction of €250 to cover changes to a flight booking in October 2021 for Mr Serrano Laborda when he was required to come early to attend a course on TB testing.
The complainant produced an email from October 2021 showing Mr Heneghan asked him to change his flight and said he was willing to pay for the change.
Mr Serrano Laborda added that there was “no mention of a loan for the flight change and no agreement that [he] would pay the amount”.
The employer, Mr Heneghan, did not appear on the day of the hearing on October 6th last year, telling WRC staff that he had an appointment arranged to perform tuberculosis testing on behalf of the Department of Agriculture that day.
The adjudicating officer, Janet Hughes, found Mr Heneghan was properly on notice of the matter and proceeded to hear Mr Serrano Laborda’s evidence in his absence – adding that the written statement put in by the employer could not be treated as evidence.
In her decision, the adjudicator Ms Hughes wrote that the payments withheld from Mr Serrano Laborda were “neither statutory deductions [nor] authorised by agreement and notified to the complainant in advance”.
“Each of the deductions or underpayments of wages taken from the complainant in December and January were unlawful,” she added.
She also found that the complainant had been available to work out his notice in February but had been prevented from doing so by the failure to pay him or provide fuel money and by taking him off the company insurance.
Ms Hughes found €3,250 had been unlawfully deducted from Mr Serrano Laborda’s wages in the period and made an order for the payment of the sum against Mr Heneghan.
