FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : FORUM CONNEMARA (CLG) (REPRESENTED BY HELIX HR) - AND - THREE PROJECT WORKERS (REPRESENTED BY SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION) DIVISION : Chairman: Ms Jenkinson Employer Member: Ms Connolly Worker Member: Ms Treacy |
1. Ex-Gratia Redundancy Terms.
BACKGROUND:
2. This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a conciliation conference under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on 23 February 2018 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on 30 May 2018.
UNION’S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. The funding agency POBAL applies an enhanced redundancy package of three weeks' pay per year of service exclusive of statutory entitlements to its own workers.
2. The local authorities, where some of the work formally carried out by Local Development Company workers has gone, also apply an enhanced redundancy package of three weeks' pay per year of service.
3. The workers of the Local Development Companies deserve to be treated no less favourably.
EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. The redundancy compensation that was paid to the three individuals was at the level provided by POBAL for redundancy.
2. In the event that further funding was provided by POBAL for redundancy compensation, it would have been paid to the individuals who were made redundant.
3. The Company is not in a position to fund additional ex-gratia redundancy compensation above the level provided by POBAL.
RECOMMENDATION:
The matter before the Court is a claim by the Union on behalf of three Claimants previously employed by FORUM Connemara Local Development Company for enhanced redundancy payments when they were made redundant on 10thFebruary 2017. The Company, which is a not for profit organisation, receives funding from various Government departments for the delivery of a number of projects, including Rural Development Programmes, Community Employment Schemes, Rural Social Schemes, T�s programmes and Social Inclusion Programmes.
In 2015 the Company was unsuccessful in a tendering process for a Social Inclusion and Community Action Programme (SICAP) funded by Pobal, under the auspices of the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government. As a result Management had no alternative but to the make the three Claimants redundant. Funding was provided to the Company for their statutory redundancy payments plus an ex-gratia payment of 1 ½ weeks’ pay per year of service with an overall cap of €40,000. The Union sought an ex-gratia redundancy payment similar to that paid to workers made redundant in a number of Local Development Companies, where they were paid an ex-gratia payment of three weeks’ pay per year of service in addition to the statutory payment subject of a cap of two years’ pay. Therefore, the Union sought an additional 1 ½ weeks’ pay per year of service for each of the Claimants involved with an increase in the cap.
Having considered the oral and written submissions of both parties, the Court recommends that an additional ex-gratia payment of 1 ½ weeks' pay per year of service, subject to an overall cap of two years’ pay when account is taken of the monies already paid out, should be paid to the each of the Claimants involved in this claim.
The Court notes that due to the financial circumstances of the Company it does not have the funds to pay this amount out of its own resources and therefore the Court recommends that the parties should jointly cooperate in seeking the necessary funds from the funding agencies to discharge the amount recommended.
The Court so Recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Caroline Jenkinson
6 June 2018______________________
MNDeputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Michael Neville, Court Secretary.