FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : CELTIC MEDIA PRINT - AND - 16 PRINTERS (REPRESENTED BY UNITE THE UNION) DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Foley Employer Member: Ms Doyle Worker Member: Ms Tanham |
1. Redundancy Terms
BACKGROUND:
2. This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of Conciliation Conferences under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on 3 September 2019 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on 20 September 2019.
UNION’S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. The Union is seeking a redundancy package in line with LCR21691.
2. The employees feel that they have made significant sacrifices and agreed to major concessions throughout the years in relation to their terms and conditions.
EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. The financial position of the company does not allow for payments above the statutory level.
2. There is no further funding available to the company for an ex gratia payment.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Court has given very careful consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties.
The matter before the Court specifically concerns the terms to be applied to 16 redundancies. The employer has submitted to the hearing a significant amount of confidential information supporting the contention that the capacity to fund redundancy payments above statutory entitlement is extremely limited.
Having regard to all of the submissions and all of the material before it, the Court recommends that the employer should make redundancy payments in line with the terms offered by it during conciliation at the Workplace Relations Commission. Specifically, the employer should, in addition to statutory entitlements, pay to workers being made redundant who have less than ten years’ service a sum of €2,500 and those with more than ten years’ service the sum of €5,000.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Kevin Foley
MK______________________
23 September 2019Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Mary Kehoe, Court Secretary.