Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

General Operative

Public Body

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

CA-00014162-001

22/09/2017

The Complainant seeks the retrospective payment of an eating on site allowance which was paid to his colleagues in 2016.

The Complainant was one of a number of employees who submitted a claim to be paid an eating on site allowance of €1.90 per day.  Under the auspices of the WRC a settlement was agreed in April 2016.  Staff were to be paid the €1.90 per day backdated to 1st January 2016.  A further 6 months arrears was subsequently agreed.  The Respondent insisted that staff would be required to sign a written declaration to the effect that they fulfilled the criteria set down for claiming the allowance.     It should be noted that under the terms of the agreement, no mention of individuals needing to sign a declaration before receiving payments is mentioned.  The Complainant did not sign the declaration for good reasons.  He contemplated taking a further case as he believed he was entitled to this allowance for 16 years.  In January 2017 he decided to relinquish any further attempts to pursue the matter and he signed off on the document as per the Respondent’s request.  Since signing up, he has received the payment for the days he works.  However, the Respondent refuses to pay him the retrospective payment paid to his colleagues.  The amount at issue is in the order of €600 and it is argued that the Complainant should not be punished simply for taking longer to sign off, and that he should be treated no differently than his colleagues who have received the retrospective payment.

A Conciliation conference resulted in agreement that a payment of €1.90 per day eating on site allowance would be made subject to declarations of compliance with the governance process which pertains to the allowance.  The Complainant was offered the opportunity in May 2016 at the same time as the other employees, to complete the relevant form which would have resulted in him receiving retrospection.  However, he chose not to sign the form.  He subsequently returned the signed declaration on 25th January 2017 and payment of the allowance commenced from that date.     It is submitted that the Complainant has been in receipt of the eating on site allowance from the point in time where he chose to comply with the appropriate governance procedures and that to allow his claim would have knock on affects.