LCR23308

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Complaint under S26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

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 31 March 2026 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.       

A Labour Court hearing took place on 06 July 2026.

RECOMMENDATION:

Background

This is a claim by the Union for the restoration of pay links that it submits were unilaterally removed. The Chief Executives of the named Voluntary Hospitals had links to former Health Board Managers prior to, and following, the establishment of the HSE.

The Union submitted that there are two elements to its claim. The first relates to a 1997 pay linkage to Health Board Managers, which was changed by agreement in 2004 to the Hospital Network Managers grade. However, the HSE did not include this cohort of workers in the list furnished to the Department of Health when requesting sanction to pay a 4% increase arising under Report No. 41 of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration, published on 25 September 2006 with an effective date of 1 January 2005. The claim seeks payment of that award and restoration of the pay link.

The second element of the claim concerns implementation of the 5% increase arising from Report No. 42 of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration, in line with the increase paid to HSE grades following an agreement reached at conciliation on 27 May 2024 and Labour Court Recommendation LCR22916, issued in November 2025.

The Union submitted that this claim was initially referred to conciliation in January 2023. Throughout the process that led to payment of this award to HSE staff, the workers covered by this claim were accepted as being part of the cohort covered by Report No. 42. This is reflected in correspondence from 2009 and in the Labour Court hearing in February 2024, where an issue was raised as to why the employers of the Voluntary Hospital CEOs had no representative on the management side. At that stage, it was agreed that the parties should discuss how those employers could be represented as part of management. It was proposed that IBEC could represent the hospitals involved. For various reasons, there was an eighteen-month delay in progressing the matter, which ultimately led to a return to conciliation in March 2026 and a joint referral to the Court on 1 April 2026.

IBEC, on behalf of the Employers, submitted that the background to these claims relates to the non-sanctioning by the Department of Health/HSE of two government approved Pay Body Review awards: Report No. 41 and Report No. 42 of the Senior Civil and Public Service Review Body, published in 2007 and 2009 respectively. It noted that the Report No. 41 award was granted to HSE grades linked to the CEO grade but was not approved for payment to Voluntary Hospital Chief Executives, contrary to a pay link established in 1997 as part of a pay restructuring agreement. IBEC further submitted that this award applied only to the Health Sector, unlike Report No. 42, which approved a pay award for Senior Civil and Public servants but was not paid to the HSE Assistant National Director grade or to Voluntary Hospital Chief Executives.

The parties before the Labour Court on 22 February 2024 were FÓRSA, the HSE and the Department of Health. While the link between the grades was the matter at issue, the Court noted that the Voluntary Hospitals were not represented. Instructions for IBEC to progress this issue were ultimately confirmed by six of the hospitals, encompassing seven CEOs in total.

It was submitted that each hospital is an independent employer but operates under a service-level agreement with the HSE requiring it to operate within the agreed pay scales. The Department of Health/HSE has, to date, negotiated and approved rates of pay for Voluntary Hospital CEOs and then notified the Employers accordingly. While the Employers do not necessarily dispute the merit of the claim, ultimately it is a matter for the funding bodies to agree any proposed increase in salary levels.

Discussion

The Court notes that these issues were referred to the WRC in the first instance in January 2023. In respect of the Court’s jurisdiction to hear cases concerning retired workers, that jurisdiction is limited to a six-month period, as set out below:

Section 26A of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 states:

 (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this or any other enactment, but subject to subsection (2), an adjudication officer or the Court shall not investigate a trade dispute to which a worker who has ceased to be employed by reason of his or her retirement is a party unless—

(a) the dispute was referred to the Commission for conciliation within a period of 6 months from the date on which the worker’s employment ceased, or the date on which the event to which the dispute relates occurred, whichever is the earlier, or

(b) the dispute was referred to an adjudication officer or, as the case may be, the Court within the period referred to in paragraph (a).

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), an adjudication officer or, as the case may be, the Court may extend the period referred to in that subsection by a further period not exceeding 6 months where the adjudication officer or the Court is satisfied that the failure to refer the dispute within the period referred to in subsection (1) was due to reasonable cause.

Arising from the above section, the Court can only make a recommendation in respect of workers who were still employed on 30 June 2022.

In respect of the Union’s first claim, concerning the non-implementation of Report No. 41, it is not disputed that the award was applied to HSE grades and not to the Voluntary Hospitals. There was very little documentation before the Court showing that this matter had been actively pursued since 2007, prior to it being raised at the Labour Court in 2024. Taking account of the time that has elapsed since Report No. 41 was issued in 2007, and of subsequent changes to the pay link in 2015, the Court is not in a position to recommend implementation of the Union’s claim.

In respect of the Union’s second claim, this has been a live issue for the parties since it came to light, following the unwinding of FEMPI in 2018, that Report No. 42 had not been applied to the HSE Assistant National Director grade or to Voluntary Hospital Chief Executives. Agreement was reached at conciliation to apply the award to HSE Assistant National Director grades with effect from 1 June 2024 and, following a referral to the Labour Court, it was recommended that retrospection be paid from 1 July 2021. The Court sees no basis for not applying the award on the same basis to the Voluntary Hospital Chief Executives covered by this claim.

 Recommendation

The Court, having read the parties’ submissions and listened carefully to the oral submissions made on the day, and noting that there is no justification for excluding the Voluntary Hospital Chief Executives covered by this claim, recommends concession of the claim.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
AR	______________________
15/07/2026	Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be in writing and addressed to Mr Aidan Ralph, Court Secretary.