Chef refused to be paid ‘under the table’
The chef had been working in the unidentified restaurant for more than a decade when it passed over to two new owners last December.
He told the Workplace Relations Commission that after about a week, one of the owners came into the kitchen and told him that from then on, he would get paid for 30 hours “on the books” and the balance would be cash under the table.
He said the reason given was that the PRSI was too high and this way they could make a saving.
The chef said he was asked to sign a form but that he refused, saying it was illegal.
The WRC summary of the chef’s complaint notes that he said the owner told him to “fuck off, then” and “so he did”.
He claimed he received no payslips from the owners and that two payslips produced at the WRC hearing were fake and the figures were wrong.
The owners’ evidence was that the chef left his employment; that they did not ask him to accept a sum ‘under the table’; and that he was merely asked to sign a tax credit form.
They also took issue with his performance, saying he was late for work and left early, though they conceded he was never disciplined for this.
They claimed that all of the PRSI, USC, and income tax deductions were made and said he wasn’t given a payslip at the time as the owners didn’t have his tax details.
The court said the owners stated that following a conversation about the chef’s timekeeping, he just walked out.
“The respondent was adamant that its payment methods were totally above board. However, I note from the two payslips produced, that no income tax was deducted from the complainant’s salary,” said the adjudication officer.
“I can find no credible explanation as to why the complainant would simply walk out of his job, a job he loved, merely because the respondent had a word with him about his timekeeping.”
She said it was more likely he left because he was told to “fuck off”, adding that the payslips produced corroborated the chef’s evidence that “all was not above board in relation to the respondent’s tax affairs”.
