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FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 13(9), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES : Q CAFÉ COMPANY LIMITED
(REPRESENTED BY MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES (IRELAND) LIMITED) - AND - A WORKER (REPRESENTED BY SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION) DIVISION : Chairman: Ms O'Donnell Employer Member: Mr Murphy Worker Member: Ms Treacy |
1. An appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Recommendation No. ADJ-00017326.
BACKGROUND:
2. This case is an appeal of an Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation by the Worker. On the 9 April 2019 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation:-
- “I recommend that the parties draw a line on the cessation of the paid 30-minute tea break and address the claimant’s disappointment through an element of compensation for the post holder alone.
I recommend that the Employer issues 2 x €500 shopping vouchers to the claimant on the following dates, if the parties accept this recommendation.
1 The first to issue on May 1, 2019
2 The second to issue on December 1, 2019
I also recommend that the Claimant be advised in writing of his entitlement to rest breaks.
These are to be in full and final settlement of the claim and cannot be used as precedent.
A Labour Court hearing took place on the 4 September 2019.
DECISION :
This case is an appeal by a Worker of the Recommendation of an Adjudication Officer. The issue in dispute between the parties is the Worker’s claim for the reinstatement of a fifteen-minute paid tea-break which he enjoyed until 2013. The Worker along with other colleagues were transferred to this Employer in 2013. During the transfer the Employer engaged with the Workers about changes in how the service would be delivered and the impact on their terms and conditions. It was not disputed between the parties that in 2014 there was a meeting with the Union representative where a number of issues was raised and resolved and that a reinstatement of the fifteen-minute paid tea-break was not one of the issues raised. The Employer submitted to the Court that the Worker had operated under the changed terms and conditions of employment from 2014 to 2018 without raising this issue and that those terms were more beneficial to him on an overall basis. When the Worker raised this issue, they offered to return him to all his original terms and conditions. However, he was seeking to have the paid tea-break included as part of his current terms and conditions. It was the Union’s submission that the Employer was suggesting that if the Worker went back to his old terms and conditions, he would have to pay for his lunch, something he had not done in the past.
The Court, having read the submissions of the parties and listened carefully to the oral submissions on the day, cannot see a basis for upholding the Worker’s claim. On that basis his claim must fail. The Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer is set aside.
The Court so decides.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Louise O'Donnell
CR ______________________
27 September, 2019 Deputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Ciaran Roche, Court Secretary.