LCR23181

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Referral under Section 26(1), Industrial Relations Act,1990. Non-Payment of Overtime for Shift Managers.

BACKGROUND:

This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on 5th June 2023 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

A Labour Court hearing took place on 19th September 2025.

RECOMMENDATION:

The matter before the Court relates to a dispute about the non-payment of overtime to Ambulance Service Shift Managers.

Union Position

The union submits that the role of Ambulance Service Shift Manager is aligned to HSE Grade VI and therefore, Grade VI overtime rates should apply. Overtime payments for these workers have been stopped unilaterally. The decision to cease payment of overtime is not in line with the terms and conditions of employment of shift managers or national agreements on the payment of overtime for certain grades. Management have failed to put in place any mechanism to compensate shift managers for working above their contractual hours in an emergency situation. Additional time spent at an incident scene is now reimbursed through TOIL, which is not agreed.

Management Position

Management’ position is that the role of Ambulance Service Shift Manager is a new Grade (Grade 6128) introduced in 2022 as part of a transformation process which includes the introduction of a 24/7 national management respondent team. Individuals applied and were appointed to the role following a recruitment process. There is no requirement to work overtime. Terms and conditions for the role, which were sanctioned by the Department of Health, clearly state that overtime is not a feature of this Grade. Management has no authority to deviate from those approved terms.

Management accepts that overtime payments were made in error to some individuals. Those who wish to return to their previous roles which attract overtime payments were given the option to do so.

The Court has carefully considered the submissions of both parties to this dispute.

The Court expressed its concern at the hearing that it was being asked to issue a recommendation in circumstances where the parties did not share a mutual understanding about what was, or was not, agreed in relation to the terms and conditions for the new Grade (Grade 6128).

Furthermore, the union understood that the sole matter before the Court was compensation for additional hours worked where a worker remains at the scene of an incident, described as ‘incidental shift over-runs’. Such over-runs, the union contends, occur infrequently for these workers, approximately once per month.

Management, however, understood the dispute to be a broader issue about eligibility for overtime payments, including a claim for overtime payments to apply for working extra shifts on unrostered days.  The union, at the hearing, confirmed that overtime on unrostered days is not part of the claim, which is confined to the incidental shift over-run scenario.

Considering the above, and conscious of the Court’s important role as the court of last resort in industrial relations disputes, the Court is of the view that it is not a position to make a definitive recommendation on the substantive dispute to assist the parties at this point in time.

The Court is of the view that the parties would benefit from further engagement on a mechanism to address the situation where a worker stays at an emergency scene and works additional hours beyond their contractual hours. The Court recommends that this engagement is progressed without delay, with the assistance of the Workplace Relation Commission, if necessary. The Court remains available to the parties at that point, if agreement cannot be reached.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Katie Connolly
FC	______________________
24 September 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ms Fiona Corcoran, Court Secretary.