An analyst who quit tech entrepreneur Simon Kelly’s Emex Software last Christmas after going without pay for three and a half months has secured an order for €20,000 against the company.
At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) last month, Mr Kelly conceded a series of complaints under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 against the regulatory software firm by sustainability and governance specialist Aniko Kopp.
Mr Kelly told the tribunal the company had been hit by economic downturn, recession and the war in Ukraine, which had left it with an “inability to raise capital and pay employees” since mid-2022.
Ms Kopp said in her complaints that she found out there were pay issues in the firm “very soon” after joining in June 2022.
Her own pay became affected in September that year when she only got half her €6,250-a-month gross salary, she said.
It was the last time she got any pay from the company before handing in notice on November 27th and finishing up at the start of the Christmas break that year on 23rd December, Ms Kopp added.
Ms Kopp sought an order for €21,875, for 3.5 months’ gross pay, along with further sums for €271 in outstanding expenses, €3,250 in health insurance allowances and €2,031.25 for pension contributions, as well as contractual and statutory leave entitlements she said were due to her.
Mr Kelly, who made oral submissions at the hearing in response to the claims in his capacity as a company director, conceded Ms Kopp’s complaints on salary, leave and unpaid expenses of €271 – but denied the firm owed anything for health insurance or pension contributions.
Ms Kopp produced her offer letter and correspondence with the firm’s former HR director and a recruiter – which referred to a “cash amount” of €500 per month offered in lieu of a company medical insurance scheme and a 5 per cent match on pension contributions.
In her decision, adjudicating officer Eliabeth Spelman said her jurisdiction under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 ended after the date Ms Kopp lodged her complaint form with the WRC on 2nd December, 2022 – and so the complainant would not be able to recover her pay for the rest of that month in the proceedings.
The adjudicator ordered Emex Software Ltd to pay Ms Kopp €578 for two days’ pay for 1st and 2nd December, 2022 and €15,625 for the preceding two and a half months when the complainant went unpaid.
Ms Spelman ruled Ms Kopp’s claim for five months of the €500-a-month health insurance payment was well-founded, and made an order to the firm to pay €2,750 – but wrote that pension contributions and expenses were outside her jurisdiction under the Act.
She ordered the firm to pay €289 under the Payment of Wages Act for its½ failure to compensate Ms Kopp for a contractual holiday entitlement – a day’s paid leave for her birthday – and €865 for outstanding annual leave under the Organisation of Working Time Act.
The total orders against Emex Software were €20,107.
