A worker who said his ex-boss slashed his rostered hours down to just one day a week and got “abusive” with him at a meeting has won nearly €8,000 in unpaid wages and compensation.
Craig O’Brien told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that businessman Zemari Jalilzad “berated” him in front of colleagues at a meeting last September when he objected to the cut in hours, telling him: “Who are you? You are nothing, you are a dog.”
The company then failed to send him his wages for September on payday the following week, he said
The employment tribunal found Mr Jalilzad’s wholesaling company, Jalilzad Electronics Ltd, in breach of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 on foot of complaints by Mr O’Brien, in a decision published on Friday.
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The complaint was heard in the absence of the company after no one representing the business took part in two scheduled hearings earlier this year.
Mr O’Brien
met Mr Jalilzad when the businessman came to buy stock during the liquidation of his former employer. Mr Jalilzad had asked him to join him in establishing his business, he said.
He prepared sales forecasts and a business plan, which Mr Jalilzad agreed to finance, he said. He then travelled to China on behalf of Mr Jalilzad to visit manufacturers of Halloween-related products with a view to supplying these to the Irish retail trade, he said.
In May 2024 he joined the company as general manager on a salary of €50,000 annually, he said.
Mr O’Brien said it became clear that “things wouldn’t work out”.
He told the tribunal he wrote to his employer outlining the problems with the business on September 15th last year, also expressing concerns about the company’s finances.
At a meeting on September 30th, to resolve a series of issues,
he said Mr Jalilzad “became abusive” and told him that, with immediate effect, he was “only required to work one day a week”.
Mr O’Brien said he challenged Mr Jalilzad’s right to change his terms of employment “without discussion”, upon which Mr Jalilzad “berated” him and said: “Who are you? You are nothing, you are a dog.”
The businessman sent him a letter later that day cutting his working week from five days to one day a week as a “temporary change”.
Mr O’Brien’s payslip for September arrived on October 1st, recording gross wages of €4,166.66, but “no money was transferred”, Mr O’Brien told the WRC.
When he wrote looking for the wages, Mr Jalil replied by email stating: “Please let us know if you are available to work one day a week,” the tribunal was told.
Mr O’Brien said his employment ended on October 31st when it “became clear” the managing director wasn’t going to pay his wages or have “any contact” with him.
In her decision, adjudicator Catherine Byrne said while it was “entirely unacceptable” that the company had failed to consult Mr O’Brien about the cut to his hours, the company was not in breach of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994.
She also found there was “no requirement” for pay in lieu of notice for the complainant, who had just six months’ service at the time.
However, Ms Byrne ruled the company was liable for Mr O’Brien’s wages for both September and October 2024. The wages had been “unlawfully deducted” in breach of the Payment of Wages Act 1991, she ruled.
She also found Mr O’Brien had been deprived of eight days’ accrued annual leave in breach of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, awarding him a further €1,731.60 in compensation.
