FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 13(9), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES : A WORKER - AND - EMPLOYER DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Foley Employer Member: Mr Marie Worker Member: Ms Treacy |
1. Appeal Of Adjudication Officer Recommendation No: ADJ-00013993 CA-00018382-001
BACKGROUND:
2. This case is an appeal by the Worker of an Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation. On 27 September 2018 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation:-
- “I find that the Worker has not established an entitlement to the payment”.
A Labour Court hearing took place on 16 January 2019.
DECISION:
The Court has given careful consideration to the written submissions of the parties and the oral submissions made at the hearing.
It may be that the parties are disagreed as to the fact of a collective agreement being in place dating from 2008 and that this disagreement underlies the within dispute. If that is the case the Court must accept that such a dispute would have implications for the terms and conditions of employment of a body of workers and consequently the Court’s jurisdiction, by virtue of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 at Section 13(2), would be exceeded were the Court to make a decision on the matter. Section 13(2) of the Act provides as follows:
- 13(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a trade dispute (other than a dispute connected with rates of pay of, hours or times of work of, or annual holidays of, a body of workers) exists or is apprehended and involves workers within the meaning of Part VI of the Principal Act, a party to the dispute may refer it to a rights commissioner.
The Court does however acknowledge that the within dispute is of long standing and that the parties have, for some years, been unable to find a resolution.
In those circumstances the Court recommends that, should both parties agree that no underlying issue as regards a collective agreement exists, the Company should make a payment to the claimant of €1,250 as a gesture of good industrial relations and in full and final settlement of the claim. Acceptance by the parties of this resolution will signify that no dispute can arise into the future as regards the existence of a collective agreement dating from 2008 or the fact that cessation of payment of the allowance and compensation for that cessation came about by agreement between the Union and the company in 2008.
This recommendation should be accepted as having no precedental implication for any other dispute which might arise and should be acknowledged as reflecting only the specific history and nature of this dispute.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Kevin Foley
MK______________________
18 January 2019Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Mary Kehoe, Court Secretary.