A beauty salon which held back thousands of euro in card tips left by customers for a beautician who was making effectively just over €5 an hour has been ordered to pay her over €11,000 by an employment tribunal.
The worker, Joselyn Moreira, was awarded the sum after her ex-employer, Good Place Beauty Ltd on South William Street in Dublin 2, was found in breach of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1995.
Representing herself before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) with the aid of a Spanish-language interpreter earlier this month, Ms Moreira, said she was a qualified veterinarian in her home country of Chile who had come to Ireland to learn English in 2024.
She told the commission she took up work on 9 November 2024 at the south city salon after being offered €18 an hour at interview by its owner, Felipe do Couto.
Ms Moreira said that from Monday to Friday during her time at the salon, she spent her mornings at school and then worked from 1pm to 8pm or 9pm in the evening, and from 9am to 9pm or 10pm on Saturdays.
She said she also worked for two hours on Christmas Day 2025. The pattern of six-day weeks continued until she quit on 3 January 2025, she said.
The complainant said she normally worked with one client an hour and that €10 was the minimum tip, but "sometimes considerably more".
Ms Moreira also told the WRC that Mr do Couto had told her it would be "better for her not to have a contract" so that she could "pay less tax".
Adjudication officer Catherine Byrne wrote that she was satisfied the employer was on notice of the hearing, but noted his failure to attend.
She noted that Ms Moreira's payslips recorded that she was paid €780 for 52 hours’ work at €15 an hour in November 2024 - and €975 for 65 hours’ in December, plus €75 in "Xmas commission" and €12.36 in tips.
Ms Byrne wrote that Ms Moreira was a "credible witness" and accepted on the basis of her uncontested evidence that she had worked 154 hours in November and 198 hours in December, along with another 10 hours in January 2025.
It meant her pay averaged €5.06 an hour in November 2024. Ms Byrne accepted Ms Moreira’s evidence that she was promised €18 at interview and had therefore been left short by €3 on the hours recorded on her payslips.
"She could not be expected to know how much was generated in tips or how the tips should have been shared with her. Based on her evidence… I estimate that she should have received €3,000 in tips," Ms Byrne added.
Ms Byrne found the employer "did not pay the complainant wages" worth €5,103 or the €3,000 in tips, in breach of the Payment of Wages Act 1991.
She directed the salon management to pay Ms Moreira a net sum of €7,700 after ruling there had been an "illegal deduction" of €8,103 gross.
Ms Byrne found further that Good Place Beauty Limited had breached the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 after hearing Ms Moreira’s evidence about her discussions with her employer about the contract.
She awarded the claimant compensation of four weeks’ wages, €3,312, for the breach, bringing the total tax-free sum due to Ms Moreira on foot of her complaints to €11,012.
