LCR22362

1. Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No. ADJ-00018096

BACKGROUND:

2. This matter was referred to an Adjudication Officer for investigation and Recommendation.
On the 13 September 2019, the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation: -

“However, having taken all into consideration, I have decided that I cannot accede to the request for regularisation of the Worker in to her current (post 2). However, I do recommend that her frustration and efforts are recognised and that she is put on the same footing as what her replacement, her husband, was offered while she was out on sick leave.

Namely, she shall be paid and receive the same terms and conditions as a permanent post holder and that shall be back-dated to the last day of January 2015.
I recommend that she shall continue to hold that post with those terms and conditions until that post is filled permanently.

I also recommend a payment of compensation of €3,000 (three thousand euro) for the lack of urgency and clarity in dealing with her grievance. I make this Recommendation with the intention that the Worker can put all this behind her and it WUI also allow the Employer start with a clean slate going forward.
I make this Recommendation on the specifics of this case, and for this case only, and it shall not set a precedent in any other dispute.”

The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour

Court on the 14^th October 2019 in accordance with Section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969.

A Labour Court hearing took place on the 10^th February 2021.

DECISION :

The Court notes that in this case the Employer acted in accordance with a collective agreement, with which the Court will not interfere. The Court notes also that there is an alternative third party appeal process available to the Worker regarding the fact that she was not successful in the competition to fill a higher post on a permanent basis.

However, the Employer acknowledged that the Worker could have been treated better by them and, in particular, should have received the correct rate of pay for the performance of duties in a higher grade over a long period. This was reflected in the Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer, who recommended that the worker receive the full back-dated value of the higher rate of pay plus compensation of €3,000. The Court agrees with that Recommendation in its entirety and recommends this to the parties as the basis for a resolution of the dispute.

An issue that arose at the hearing as to whether the money due as a consequence of the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation had, or had not, been paid is a matter of fact to be resolved between the parties. In the unlikely event that this is not possible, it is open to the parties to avail of the State’s dispute resolution processes.

The Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer is upheld.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Tom Geraghty
NJ	______________________
10 February 2021	Deputy Chairman