ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00029766
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | A Worker | A Semi State Company |
Representatives | Cormac O'Dálaigh Communication Workers Union |
|
Complaint(s):
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-00039399-001 | 27/08/2020 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 24/02/2021
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Breiffni O'Neill
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969 following the referral of the dispute to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the dispute.
Background:
The Worker states that he is acting up at a higher grade but claims that his current rate of pay does not reflect this. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Worker commenced employment with the Company in 1981. He claimed that he has been acting up in a higher-level role since 2013 but that he has not been compensated accordingly. He stated that he submitted a pay claim in 2019 in respect of his additional responsibilities but that this was refused. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Company disputed that the Worker was entitled to any additional pay in respect of fulfilling his duties. It was also highlighted that he had bypassed the Company’s own internal grievance procedure prior to referring the matter to the WRC. |
Findings and Conclusions:
I note that the Worker did not exhaust the Company’s internal grievance procedure and that the WRC should only be used where all internal procedures have been exhausted. The matter should therefore be dealt with firstly via the internal mechanisms before referring it to the WRC in future, if necessary. |
Decision:
Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.
I recommend that the Worker invoke the Company’s grievance procedure in respect of this dispute and that provision be made by the Company to ensure that the investigation, as well as any internal appeal, is completed within eight weeks from the date of the hearing. |
Dated: 11/03/2021
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Breiffni O'Neill
Key Words:
|