LCR23251

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officers Recommendation No's: ADJ-00057628 (CA-00070121, IR-SC-00003977)

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour Court on 20 January 2026 in accordance with Section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969.

On 14 January 2026 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation.

“I recommend that the employer pay the worker compensation of €900 for the unexplained and what appears to have been unnecessary delays that caused considerable distress to the worker.” A Labour Court hearing took place on 15 April 2026.

DECISION:

This is an appeal by the Worker of  a Recommendation  of an Adjudication Officer.  The Adjudication Officer upheld the complaint in respect of delay and awarded compensation of €900. The issue in dispute between the parties arises from the delay in the Workers assignment to a fulltime role as CPD Instructor.  There is a monetary difference in the allowance paid to someone appointed on a temporary basis and someone appointed on a fulltime basis and by being appointed on a temporary basis she received the lower allowance.

The Worker applied for and was successful in competing for a role as a temporary CPD instructor. She was appointed to that role on 5 September 2017. The temporary assignment was extended on four occasions. Each extension lasting on average four months. However, the final extension ran from 5 May 2020 to 27 February 2024.  A permanent vacancy arose in the area in May 2018 following a retirement. On 1 November 2022 Chief Supt McMahon wrote to Garda Headquarters HR requesting that the Worker be appointed to CPD on a fulltime basis.  The Worker was only appointed on a fulltime basis in February 2024 after she had competed in a further competition.  That competition was for a full-time role. Following her appointment to the fulltime role the Worker lodged a dispute under the internal dispute resolution procedures seeking the higher allowance for the duration of her temporary appointment.  She was unsuccessful in her claim. The Worker is looking for retrospective compensation for the monetary shortfall she suffered by receiving the lower allowance during her appointment on a temporary basis.

The Employer submitted that it was not at all unusual in An Garda Siochana to receive a temporary allowance for working in a particular specialised post on a provisional basis. The Garda Code provides for a distinction in pay between members engaged in full time instruction and those employed as temporary instructors.  The position the Worker applied for was a temporary position and separate competitions are held for permanent position. It was not the practise that you could move from temporary to fulltime position without a competition. The Employer accepted that HR had received a request on 1 November 2022 from the local manager Chief Supt McMahon to fill the position and that a fulltime position had been vacant since 2018. It was their submission that it was a matter for HR as to what posts were prioritised and when posts should be filled as this was not something a local manager could decide and the post was ultimately filled by the Worker on 27 February 2024.

 The Court notes that from September 2017 to February 2024 the Worker raised no formal grievance with her Employer in respect of this issue, thereby depriving her Employer of the opportunity to remedy the situation. The Worker cannot therefore seek to be compensated for that period. However, the Employer was on notice of the situation from November 2022 and chose not to remedy it and indeed benefited from not remedying the position by not having to pay the higher allowance.  Taking all of these matters into account the Court recommends that the Worker be paid compensation of €3,398 which equals to the difference between the two allowances over a 12-month period.

The Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer is varied accordingly.

 The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
AR	______________________
07/05/2026	Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Mr Aidan Ralph, Court Secretary.