LCR22771

1. Retrospective Pay For 2020 And 2021. CCCAM-100278-22.

BACKGROUND:

2. This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of Conciliation Conferences under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on 30 March 2023 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on 9 June 2023.

RECOMMENDATION:

The background to this dispute is the impact of the pandemic on the ability of the Employer to meet the terms of an agreed pay increase. The increase due in July 2020 was deferred and the Union has sought retrospective payment.

Proposals that emerged from discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission, ‘WRC’, were rejected by members of the Union and subsequent discussions at the WRC failed to resolve the matter.

The Court is very conscious that there are conflicting pressures on the parties. The priority of the Employer is the protection of the company as a viable concern in difficult current circumstances. The Union, on the other hand, points to the economic pressures on a low paid workforce, particularly at a time of high inflation.

The Court is conscious also that this issue is an obstacle to the commencement of important broader discussions between the parties on future pay.

In order to create the circumstances in which pay discussions regarding the future can take place and, in an attempt to address the concerns of both parties, the Court makes the following Recommendation;

The Employer will make additional payments in the form of tax efficient vouchers, as follows;

€200 from 1 July 2023,

€200 from 1 December 2023

€400 from 1 December 2024.

These payments will be made to staff serving in the company on the dates concerned, who are in the employment on the date of this Recommendation. Staff serving on the date of this Recommendation who leave before the dates set out above due to retirement or due to medical circumstances shall receive the full amounts outstanding on their departure date. Staff leaving the company for any other reason shall not be entitled to receive any amounts outstanding upon their departure.

The Court notes that the Employer is willing, if this Recommendation is accepted, to make payments to staff who were serving when the pay increase was due in July 2020 but who have since left because of retirement or because of medical circumstances. These payments will be amounts equivalent to the actual individual financial loss incurred from the date of deferment of the pay increase in July 2020 up to the individual’s departure date. As the staff concerned are no longer employees, these payments cannot be made in the form of vouchers. The people concerned are no longer workers and the Industrial Relations Acts are not applicable to them, so this element of the Court’s Recommendation is based on the commitment given to the Court by the Employer in order to be constructive. The Court notes its appreciation of this gesture and is willing to so recommend.

This Recommendation is intended to be taken as a complete set of proposals that are the result of exhaustive consideration by the Court of all arguments and the Recommendation is put to the parties with the intention of it being implemented in its entirety in order to achieve full and final settlement of this issue.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Tom Geraghty
AR	______________________
12 June 2023	Deputy Chairman