FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 13(9), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES : AN POST - AND - A WORKER DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Haugh Employer Member: Ms Connolly Worker Member: Mr Hall |
1. Appeal of Adjudication Officer Recommendation No. ADJ-00009082.
BACKGROUND:
2. This matter was referred to an Adjudication Officer for investigation and Recommendation. On the 15 November 2017 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation:-
- “I recommend that the worker should be comprehended by that Labour Court decision LCR1422 and receive the appropriate allowance and buyout”
The Employer appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour Court on the 12 December 2017 in accordance with Section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969.
A Labour Court hearing took place on the 29 March 2018.
DECISION:
Background to the Dispute
The within dispute came before the Court by way of an appeal brought by An Post (‘the Company’) against a recommendation of an Adjudication Officer made under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969. That recommendation is dated15 November 2017 and bears the reference number ADJ-00009082. The Adjudication Officer recommended in favour of the Worker. The Company’s Notice of Appeal was received by the Court on 12 December 2017. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 29 March 2018.
The dispute concerns the payment of a local productivity allowance. The Company’s submission is that – in accordance with starting pay regulations - allowances in the nature of the disputed allowance are normally subsumed into starting pay following a worker’s promotion. The Company, nevertheless, accepts that there has been a degree of inconsistency in its treatment of this issue in so far as the particular productivity allowance, the subject matter of this dispute, was paid in error to an unspecified number of workers (including the complainant Worker in these proceedings) following their promotion.
The Company engaged with the Union (the CWU) over a protracted period to standardise and regularise its practice companywide in this regard. This process culminated in a binding Recommendation (LCR21422) from the Court dated 30 March 2017 wherein the Court recommended as follows:
- “The Court recommends that the Allowance being paid to eleven Managers should be bought out on a compulsory basis. In the exceptional circumstances of this case the buy-out should be at the rate of 2.5 times the annual value of the Allowance.
This buy-out of the Allowance in this manner is limited to those Managers who are currently in receipt of the Allowance and is in full and final settlement of all claims associated with cessation of the Allowance for Managers.”
Recommendation
The Court has given detailed consideration to both parties’ submissions. It is the long-standing practice of the Court to uphold collective agreements. In the circumstances, therefore, and having regard to the wording of its own previous Recommendation in LCR21422 quoted above to the effect that buy-out recommended therein was to be “in full and final settlement of all claims associated with the cessation of the Allowance for Managers”, the Court recommends that Company’s appeal in this matter should succeed. The recommendation of the Adjudication Officer is, therefore, set aside.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Alan Haugh
LS______________________
11 April 2018Deputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Louise Shally, Court Secretary.