Agricultural Wages (Amendment) Act, 1945
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: —(1) In this Act—
the expression “the Principal Act” means the Agricultural Wages Act, 1936 (No. 53 of 1936);
the expression “wages period” means—
(a) in relation to an agricultural worker whose minimum rate of wages is fixed as a monthly rate, a month;
(b) in relation to an agricultural worker whose minimum rate of wages is fixed otherwise than as a monthly rate, a period of any seven consecutive days.
(2) Where the sum paid by an agricultural employer to an agricultural worker as wages in respect of a wages period is less than the sum which ought, at the appropriate minimum rate, to have been paid by the agricultural employer to the agricultural worker as wages in respect of that wages period, then, for the purposes of this Act—
(a) there shall be deemed to have been an underpayment by the agricultural employer to the agricultural worker of wages in respect of that wages period, and
(b) the amount of the underpayment of wages in respect of that wages period shall be taken to be the difference between the said sums.
(3) This Act shall be construed as one with the Principal Act.
num: 2
paragraphs: —Subsection (2) of section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed.
num: 3
paragraphs: —(1) Where proceedings are commenced, on or after the date of the passing of this Act, against an agricultural employer charging him with an offence under section 19 of the Principal Act in relation to any alleged underpayment by him to an agricultural worker of wages in respect of a wages period, the Court may, whether there is a conviction or not, if satisfied that there has been an underpayment by the agricultural employer to the agricultural worker of wages in respect of any wages period falling wholly or partly within the two years immediately preceding the date on which the proceedings were commenced, order the agricultural employer to pay to the agricultural worker a sum equal to the amount of the underpayment of wages in respect of that wages period.
(2) Subsection (4) of section 19 of the Principal Act shall cease to apply to proceedings commenced, on or after the date of the passing of this Act, against an agricultural employer charging him with an offence under section 19 of the Principal Act in relation to an alleged underpayment by him to an agricultural worker of wages in respect of a wages period.
num: 4
paragraphs: —(1) Where there has been an underpayment by an agricultural employer to an agricultural worker of wages in respect of a wages period, then, subject to subsection (2) of this section, an officer of the Board may, in the name and on behalf of the agricultural worker, institute civil proceedings to recover the amount of the said underpayment, without prejudice however to the right of the agricultural worker to institute such proceedings.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment, civil proceedings shall not, on or after the date of the passing of this Act, be commenced to recover an underpayment by an agricultural employer to an agricultural worker of wages in respect of a wages period unless—
(a) in case the agricultural worker has at the date of the commencement of the proceedings ceased to be in the employment of the agricultural employer,—
(i) the proceedings are commenced within two years after the date of such cesser, and
(ii) the said wages period falls wholly or partly within the two years ending on the date of such cesser, or
(b) in case the agricultural worker is in the employment of the agricultural employer at the date of the commencement of the proceedings, the said wages period falls wholly or partly within the two years ending on the date of the commencement of the proceedings.
(3) Subsection (5) of section 19 of the Principal Act shall cease to apply to civil proceedings commenced, on or after the date of the passing of this Act, to recover an underpayment by an agricultural employer to an agricultural worker of wages in respect of a wages period.
num: 5
paragraphs: —Where—
(a) proceedings, whether criminal or civil, are commenced, on or after the date of the passing of this Act, in relation to an alleged underpayment by an agricultural employer to an agricultural worker of wages in respect of a wages period, and
(b) the agricultural employer proves that the agricultural worker was so affected by physical injury or mental deficiency or any infirmity due to age or any other cause as to have been incapacitated from earning wages in respect of that wages period at the appropriate minimum rate,
then, for the purpose of such proceedings, the agricultural worker shall be deemed to have been granted a permit under section 18 of the Principal Act exempting the employment of such worker unconditionally from the provisions of the Principal Act requiring wages to be paid to him in respect of that wages period at not less than the said minimum rate.
num: 6
paragraphs: —(1) This Act may be cited as the Agricultural Wages (Amendment) Act, 1945.
(2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Agricultural Wages Acts, 1936 and 1945.