Payment of wages act, 1991

• Enactment Date: 23 July 1991
• Act Number: 25

Number 25 of 1991
PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT, 1991
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Interpretation. 2. Modes of payment of wages. 3. Repeal of Truck Acts, 1831 to 1896, and related enactments. 4. Statements of wages and deductions from wages. 5. Regulation of certain deductions made and payments received by employers. 6. Complaints by employees in relation to contraventions of section 5 by their employers. 7. Appeal from decision of rights commissioner. 8. Enforcement of decisions of rights commissioner and determinations of Tribunal. 9. Powers of authorised officers. 10. Provisions in relation to offences. 11. Voidance of certain provisions in agreements. 12. Laying of regulations before Houses of Oireachtas.
13. Expenses of Minister. 14. Short title and commencement.
SCHEDULE
Enactments Repealed
Acts Referred to Bills of Exchange Act, 1882 1882, c. 61 Central Bank Act, 1971 1971, No. 24 Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 1956, No. 46 County Works (Ireland) Act, 1846 1846, c. 2 Hosiery Manufacture (Wages) Act, 1874 1874, c. 48 Industrial Relations Act, 1990 1990, No. 19 Local Government Act, 1941 1941, No. 23 Payment of Wages Act, 1979 1979, No. 40 Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851 1851, c. 93 Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 1967, No. 21 Truck Act, 1743 1743, c. 8 Truck Act, 1831 1831, c. 37 Truck Act, 1896 1896, c. 44 Truck Amendment Act, 1887 1887, c. 46 Trustee Savings Banks Act, 1989 1989, No. 21
Number 25 of 1991
PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT, 1991
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FURTHER PROTECTION FOR EMPLOYEES IN RELATION TO THE PAYMENT OF WAGES, TO FACILITATE THE PAYMENT OF WAGES OTHERWISE THAN IN CASH, FOR THAT PURPOSE TO REPEAL THE TRUCK ACTS, 1831 TO 1896, AND RELATED ENACTMENTS AND TO PROVIDE FOR CONNECTED MATTERS. [23rd July, 1991]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Interpretation.	1.—(1) In this Act—
	“cash” means cash that is legal tender;
	“contract of employment” means—
	(a) a contract of service or of apprenticeship, and
	(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person to do or perform personally any work or service for a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract) whose status by virtue of the contract is not that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual, and the person who is liable to pay the wages of the individual in respect of the work or service shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be his employer,
	whether the contract is express or implied and if express, whether it is oral or in writing;
	“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and references, in relation to an employer, to an employee shall be construed as references to an employee employed by that employer; and for the purpose of this definition, a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces) or otherwiseas a civil servant, within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 , shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or the Government, as the case may be, and an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 , a harbour authority, a health board or a vocational education committee shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority, board or committee, as the case may be;
	“employer”, in relation to an employee, means the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Labour;
	“strike” and “industrial action” have the meanings assigned to them by the Industrial Relations Act, 1990 ;
	“the Tribunal” means the Employment Appeals Tribunal;
	“wages”, in relation to an employee, means any sums payable to the employee by the employer in connection with his employment, including—
	(a) any fee, bonus or commission, or any holiday, sick or maternity pay, or any other emolument, referable to his employment, whether payable under his contract of employment or otherwise, and
	(b) any sum payable to the employee upon the termination by the employer of his contract of employment without his having given to the employee the appropriate prior notice of the termination, being a sum paid in lieu of the giving of such notice:
	Provided however that the following payments shall not be regarded as wages for the purposes of this definition:
	(i) any payment in respect of expenses incurred by the employee in carrying out his employment,
	(ii) any payment by way of a pension, allowance or gratuity in connection with the death, or the retirement or resignation from his employment, of the employee or as compensation for loss of office,
	(iii) any payment referable to the employee's redundancy,
	(iv) any payment to the employee otherwise than in his capacity as an employee,
	(v) any payment in kind or benefit in kind.
	(2) Except in section 5 (5) (f), a reference in this Act to an employer receiving a payment from an employee is a reference to his receiving such a payment in his capacity as the employee's employer.
	(3) In this Act, a reference to a section is a reference to a section of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.
	(4) In this Act, a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraphof the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.
	Modes of payment of wages.	2.—(1) Wages may be paid by and only by one or more of the following modes:
	(a) a cheque, draft or other bill of exchange within the meaning of the Bills of Exchange Act, 1882 ,
	(b) a document issued by a person who maintains an account with the Central Bank of Ireland or a holder of a licence under section 9 of the Central Bank Act, 1971 , which, though not such a bill of exchange as aforesaid, is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from that bank or that holder of the amount specified in the document,
	(c) a draft payable on demand drawn by a holder of such a licence as aforesaid upon himself, whether payable at the head office or some other office of the bank to which the licence relates,
	(d) a postal, money or paying order, or a warrant, or any other like document, issued by or drawn on An Post or a document issued by an officer of a Minister of the Government that is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from that Minister of the Government of the sum specified in the document,
	(e) a document issued by a person who maintains an account with a trustee savings bank within the meaning of the Trustee Savings Banks Act, 1989 , that is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from the bank of the sum specified in the document,
	(f) a credit transfer or another mode of payment whereby an amount is credited to an account specified by the employee concerned,
	(g) cash,
	(h) any other mode of payment standing specified for the time being by regulations made by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Finance.
	(2) Where wages fall to be paid to an employee by a mode other than cash at a time when, owing to a strike or other industrial action affecting a financial institution, cash is not readily available to the employee, the employer concerned shall, if the employee consents, pay the wages by another mode (other than cash) specified in subsection (1) and, if the employee does not so consent, pay them in cash.
	(3) An employer who pays wages to an employee otherwise than by a mode specified in subsection (1) or contravenes subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.
	Repeal of Truck Acts, 1831 to 1896, and related enactments.	3.—(1) The enactments specified in column (2) of the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in column (3) of that Schedule.
	(2) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act—
	(a) where, immediately before the commencement of this Act, an employee's wages were being paid to him in cash, the employer shall, while the employee is in the employment concerned, continue to pay those wages to him in cash unless any other mode of payment specified in section 2 is agreed upon by the employer or an organisation representative of employers (of which the employer is a member) and the employee or an organisation representative of employees (of which the employee is a member), and
	(b) where, immediately before such commencement, an employee's wages were being paid to him, pursuant to section 3 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1979 , by an instrument or mode of payment to which that section applied, then, if after such commencement, the agreement or other arrangement authorising payment of the wages by the instrument or mode aforesaid is terminated in a manner specified in that section, the employer shall pay those wages to him in cash unless any other mode of payment specified in section 2 is agreed upon as aforesaid.
	(3) An employer who contravenes subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.
	Statements of wages and deductions from wages.	4.—(1) An employer shall give or cause to be given to an employee a statement...