FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN - AND - IRISH FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Hayes Employer Member: Mr Murphy Worker Member: Mr Shanahan |
1. Redundancy - alleged breach of clause 1.6 of the Public Service Agreement.
BACKGROUND:
2. This dispute concerns a claim that the Employer's decision to make the Worker redundant constituted a breach of clause 1.6 of the Public Service Agreement. This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on the 6th January, 2015, in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on the 5th March, 2015.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3 1 The Worker has worked on a variety of projects with a variety of funding supports.
2 The Employer failed to offer the Worker alternative available work.
3 The Employer acted in breach of the Public Service Agreement.
EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:
4 1 The Employer has a long-established exit mechanism which predates the Public Service Agreement.
2 Hundreds of employees have been made redundant using this exit mechanism.
3. The Employer has not breached the Public Service Agreement.
RECOMMENDATION:
Having carefully considered the submissions of both parties to this dispute the Court finds that the College’s decision to make the Claimant redundant is not consistent with Clause 1.6 of the Public Service Agreement. The Court accordingly finds that the Claimant’s employment was continuous and should be treated as such.
In the context of this Recommendation and in the specific circumstances of this case, the Court, in an effort to bring this dispute to a conclusion, recommends that the period between March 14th2013 and May 27th2013 be treated as a period of lay-off by the parties.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Brendan Hayes
27th March, 2015______________________
JMcCDeputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Jonathan McCabe, Court Secretary.