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-00024360-001

20/12/2018

The Claimant is a Clinical Nurse Manager Grade III.

She wants her post upgraded to that of a Nurse Practice Development Co-Ordinator.

The Claimant’s case is that she is paid as a Clinical Nurse Manager III but is performing the role of a much higher grade.

She reports to the area Director of Nursing. Her role requires her to work in collaboration with medical, nursing staff, allied health professionals, service users and service managers in the delivery of high standards of care in standards, clinical practice, legislation, risk management, regulatory compliance and clinical governance.   Her remit extends to the provision of in training in relation to an area of health provision. Her remit also includes working and linking to external agencies. She provides support to both her area Directors of Nursing and Assistant Directors of Nursing regionally, delivering on overall management responsibilities and professional standards in relation to the applicable health care legislation.   This work encompasses a national component. She is a key member of a health legislation group. This is an oversight group with the remit of advising health services nationally on the requirements under the legislation and its ongoing revisions.  

The Respondent receives funding annually from the applicable health budget of €12,000.00 in provision with the work carried out by the Claimant nationally. Funding has also been received from the Regional Centre for Nurse Education to the relevant local Health Services on an annual basis in the approximate sum of €6,000.00.

The Claimant requested a review of her salary in parity with the original three members of the applicable Health Legislation Training and Policy Group (of which she is a member) who were all paid at Nurse Practice Development Coordinator level. This request was made in March 2017.

The Claimant brought her claim through the steps of the internal procedures as required. She requested internal meetings to discuss her claim. She engaged her union to represent her in the matter. Numerous correspondence was sent to the Respondent.   However, no response was received.   The Claimant received support from various internal parties, but no meeting was forthcoming. Finally, the Complainant’s union received a response on the 11th of December 2018 that the claim was not approved.

The Claimant provided a breakdown of her calculation of the increases in her pay if I was to make a recommendation in her favour:

·         In March 2017 she would move to the 4th point of the Nurse Practice Development Scale, an increase of €2106.

·         In March 2018 she would receive an increase of €802 from her 2017 salary

·         In March 2019 she would receive an increase of €1,828 from her 2018 salary.

The Respondent’s case is that the Claimant is currently paid at the max point of the Clinical Nurse Manager III salary scale.

The request by the Claimant is a cost increasing claim which is outside the terms and conditions of the current public service agreement.

Currently there is no option to re-grade employees within the Respondent organisation.

The Respondent is bound by the terms and conditions of the national recruitment licence. The only available avenue for upgrading of posts is through open recruitment.

The Respondent is not able to upgrade a post on an individual basis.

I have considered the Claimant’s case carefully and reviewed her substantial submissions.

I understand why the Claimant feels that she is being treated very unfairly. However, I am unable to resolve the dispute in her favour as by her own calculations it is a cost increasing claim which is prohibited under Section 8.3.1 of the terms of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020.

If I were to find in the Claimant’s favour, I would be encouraging a breach in the agreement.  

I make no recommendation in this dispute.

Post upgrade. Cost increasing claim.