FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 13(9), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES : TUSLA CHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY - AND - A WORKER (REPRESENTED BY FORSA TRADE UNION) DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Foley Employer Member: Mr Marie Worker Member: Ms Treacy |
1. Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No(s). ADJ-00019688 CA-00026167-001.
BACKGROUND:
2. This matter was referred to an Adjudication Officer for investigation and Recommendation. On 18 December 2019 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation:-
- “I recommend the Worker should be regraded to support co-ordinator, backdated from 1 January 2014 to 23rd October 2017. From 24th October 2017 to date, I recommend the Worker should be regraded to Co-Ordinator grade backdated to 24th October 2017.”
The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour Court on 1 October 2018 in accordance with Section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969.
A Labour Court Hearing took place on 10 June 2020.
DECISION:
The Court has given very careful consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties.
The matter before the Court concerns the rate of pay of the Claimant who is employed as a Family Support Service Co-ordinator since the establishment of the employing organisation in 2014. She had, prior to that date, been an acting Co-ordinator in a predecessor employment. The maximum point on the scale upon which the Claimant is placed is €44,330.
The staff who report to the Claimant were, as a result of a national agreement concluded in 2017, aligned for pay purposes with the Social Care Worker (unqualified) scale which carries a maximum point of €44,896. As a result of this development the Claimant was paid less than those who report to her.
The Claimant initiated a claim arising from this development and the employer, in recognition of the anomaly which had arisen, offered her a pay scale equivalent to Grade V which carries a maximum point of €49,991. The Claimant rejected that offer and contended that she should be paid on the same scale as the scale of the grade which manages the staff to whom her direct reports had been aligned in 2017.
The employer subsequently offered the Claimant a rate of pay equivalent to the Grade VI scale which carries a maximum point of €56,592. The claimant rejected that offer and seeks that she be placed on the grade VII scale which carries a maximum point of €62,994.
The Court has considered the detail of the case before it and has considered the history of the matter very closely. In all of the circumstances, the Court recommends that the Claimant be re-graded to the Grade V salary scale with effect from 1stJanuary 2014 and, with effect from 24thOctober 2017, that she should be re-graded to the CFSN Co-ordinator grade scale (equivalent to Grade VI) which carries a maximum point of €56,592.
The Adjudication Officer decision is affirmed.
The Court so decides.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Kevin Foley
TH______________________
16 June 2020Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Therese Hickey, Court Secretary.