FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : SWISSPORT IRELAND LIMITED (REPRESENTED BY HOLMES O'MALLEY SEXTON, SOLICITORS) - AND - A WORKER (REPRESENTED BY SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL UNION) DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Haugh Employer Member: Mr Murphy Worker Member: Mr McCarthy |
1. Failure to recall a Worker to Shannon Airport and compensation at commencement of 2017 season.
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 the 30 August 2017 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.
A Labour Court hearing took place on the 2 May 2018.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
- The Worker has had a great record of commendation throughout his employment with the Company at various sites.
- The Worker confirmed to the Company's Human Resources Department in 2016 that he was interested in returning to work in Shannon on a seasonal basis in 2017.
COMPANY'S ARGUMENTS:
- The Worker had no right to a recall in Shannon as he had only worked in Shannon Airport as a seasonal employee for two years.
- Any award of compensation for not being recalled to Shannon in 2017 would be unfair as the Worker was employed with the Company in Dublin during this time.
RECOMMENDATION:
Background to the Dispute
The Worker has been employed by Swissport Ireland Limited (‘the Company’) on a number of fixed-term, seasonal contracts as a Ramp Agent at Shannon Airport. He was employed on this basis for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, between the months of April and October each year. He is currently employed on a fixed-term contract for the 2018 season. His application for employment at Shannon for the 2017 season was unsuccessful. However, he had been employed by the Company on a separate contract in Dublin during the Winter of 2016—2017 and his employment there was continued throughout the Summer season of 2017. The Worker resides some fifteen minutes’ drive from Shannon Airport and is seeking compensation for the additional travel and accommodation costs he incurred while working for the Company in Dublin during the summer of 2017 over and above what he would have incurred had he been given a contract to work in Shannon for that season.
The Company accepts that in October 2016 it had invited expressions of interest regarding seasonal work in Shannon for 2017 from those seasonal workers who had been employed there during the 2016 Summer season. However, it submits that this did not amount to a binding commitment on its part to re-employ in 2017 any person who expressed an interest in working in Shannon that year. It further submits that workers employed on a fixed-term seasonal basis in any particular year are not automatically entitled to a further contract of employment the following year.
The Union submits that the Worker has an excellent track record with the Company. He has never been the subject of either grievance or disciplinary proceedings. He was worked in a number of different locations for the Company, both in Ireland and abroad. The Company has not offered any substantive explanation for its failure to recall the Worker to Shannon for the 2017 Summer season in circumstances where it actively recruited for seasonal workers at that location in early 2017 and the Worker had unequivocally indicated his interest in returning to Shannon for that season.
Recommendation
The Court recommends that the Company make a once-off payment of €750.00 to the Worker in recognition of the additional accommodation and travel expenses he incurred while working in Dublin during the 2017 summer season in circumstances where the Company had a clear requirement for workers in Shannon that season, the Worker is an experienced person with a good track record and had unequivocally expressed a preference to return to Shannon that season and the Company has been unable to advance any explanation as to why he was passed over at that time.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Alan Haugh
JD______________________
18 May 2018Deputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to John Deegan, Court Secretary.