Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Lecturer

A Third Level College

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

IR - SC - 00000925

08/12/2022

The worker in this case is a part-time lecturer on a Contract of Indefinite Duration. Her annual hours outside her basic contracted hours are unpredictable and she wishes to see greater certainty in them.

The complainant has a contract entitling her to a guaranteed eight hours per week.

In practice, in recent years she has benefitted from additional hours which can range from approximately fifty to two hundred and fifty per year. She also has the benefit of a fixed allowance of €7500.00 in respect of a specific responsibility.

The problem is that her earnings are completely unpredictable from year to year, and she seeks to have some greater certainty about her hours and therefore her income.

The employer stresses that the complainant’s core contract of employment is fully discharged, and no issue arises there.

She also has competed for the specific responsibility post referred to above and has been undertaking that for a number of years.

The employer also draws attention to the fact that negotiations are continuing with the worker’s trade union on future arrangements for the grade of which the complainant is a member, and these could have a beneficial outcome for the complainant when they are concluded.

The employer is also willing to consider whether, separate to the negotiations the allowance received by the complainant might be consolidated into her basic salary, thereby achieving a degree of certainty as far as that is concerned, as well as bringing it within the remit of the superannuation scheme.

In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the parties.

I am cognisant of two preliminary matters that affect my jurisdiction in this matter.

The first is that the current claim could not be confined to the current complainant alone and therefore falls within the definition of a grade or category of worker in respect of whom jurisdiction is excluded by the Act.

More significantly, from both a jurisdictional and a practical point of view there are negotiations underway between the respondent and the trade union representing the complainant and her colleagues. This process holds out the possibility of addressing the current unpredictable nature of the complainant’s yearly earnings far more effectively than any outcome of this hearing might, even overlooking the jurisdictional issues which of course is not possible.

The employer made a very positive offer to address an aspect of the complainant’s current package which I commend as a helpful first step. I make a recommendation on this below.

Otherwise, I must defer to the collective bargaining process and until matters crystallise there, I do not think it is possible (or desirable) for an Adjudicator to intrude into what is effectively a salary negotiation between the employer and the trade union involved for a grade of workers.

If, in due course, the complainant wishes to bring a fresh complaint that falls within the jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Act she will be at liberty to do so.

I recommend that discussions begin between the parties on the consolidation into her salary of the specific responsibility allowance paid to the complainant in recent years.

These should commence as soon as possible and be concluded no later than the commencement of the new 2023/24 academic year.

I make no recommendation on the other matters for the reasons set out above.