Business

Waitress waiting a year to get paid secures wages order against restaurant operator

Worker had done a ‘trial shift’ and two weekend nights before quitting for another job

Citizens’ Information representative said Temple Bar Shops owed his client €142.80. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins

Wed Aug 2 2023 - 12:27

A waitress who has been waiting over a year to get paid for three days’ work last summer has secured a wages order against a restaurant operator.

Isadora Furlanetto did a “trial shift” and two nights of a weekend last summer at an unidentified restaurant run by Temple Bar Shops Ltd before quitting to take a job closer to home.

The worker, who was represented by the Citizens’ Information Service before the Workplace Relations Commission at a hearing last month, said that when she looked for her outstanding pay for the 2nd to the 4th of June 2022, the employer complained that she failed to give notice and owed money for a uniform.

John Cahill of the Citizens’ Information Service, appearing for Ms Furlanetto at a hearing on June 14th this year, said his client was due the 17 hours’ pay at an hourly rate of €8.40.

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The complainant’s case was that the employer stated Ms Furlanetto was “required to give notice as required under her contract of employment”, the tribunal noted.

“The complainant had not signed any contract,” Mr Cahill said – adding that, according to statute, the employer in the case had no right to any notice of resignation from Ms Cahill as she had under 13 weeks’ service.

The Citizens’ Information representative said Temple Bar Shops owed his client €142.80 and that the sum was being “withheld unlawfully by the employer”.

In his decision on the claim, adjudicating officer, Brian Dalton, agreed, accepting Ms Furlanetto’s sworn evidence and noting that the company was on notice of hearing but had not attended.

The firm was “provided with the opportunity to rebut the complaint made against them and has failed to do so”, he wrote.

“I determine that the respondent unlawfully withheld wages from her,” he wrote.

He directed Temple Bar Shops Ltd to pay Ms Furlanetto €142.80.

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