LCR23078

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Annual Incentive Plan.

BACKGROUND:

This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on 24 July 2024 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

A Labour Court hearing took place on 3 December 2024.

UNION'S ARGUMENTS:     

1. The Union seek a target bonus of 10% be applied to all Senior QC Analyst and IPC Chemist roles as collectively agreed in 2018 and supported by TUPE Regulations post transfer 2019.                

2. The Union respectfully request that the Court find in the Unions favour.

EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:    

1. The Employer states it has honoured the full terms of the agreement concluded with the Union and has maintained the target bonus % for transferring employees.                

2. The Employer requests that, having had extensive discussions at local and conciliation levels, issue a recommendation that no further payments are made outside of what was proposed as the Employer’s Irish site does not hold overall authority to change a globally owned / led policy.

RECOMMENDATION:

The Dispute

The within dispute concerns the target bonus rate paid to three laboratory analysts (‘the Workers’) under the Annual Incentive Plan (‘AIP’) operated by Thermo Fisher Scientific (‘the Company’) in Cork.

The Company acquired the Cork plant from GSK in October 2019 in a transaction that was subject to the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (‘the Regulations’). Pursuant to a collective agreement with SIPTU, GSK had applied a target bonus of 10% to all Senior QC Analysts and IPC Chemists in the Laboratory Group. The Workers’ target bonus is currently 8%. The monetary difference between a 10% and an 8% annual bonus payment is approximately €1,170.00. The Union is seeking a 10% target bonus for the affected Workers in line with other colleagues in the Laboratory Group.

The Union’s Submission

The Union submits that the target bonus of 10% applied to the Laboratory Group negotiated as part of the collective agreement in June 2018 between it and GSK should be applied to the Workers having regard to the Regulations. The Company’s Submission

The Company submits that the Thermo Fisher global bonus policy has applied since the acquisition of the Cork plant in 2019 and this policy provides a target bonus of 8% for band 5 employees (including the Workers). The Company advised the Court that existing band 5 employees in post as of the date of transfer were permitted to retain their existing bonus percentages post-transfer on a red-circled basis. The Company further submits that the Workers who are the subject of this dispute joined their current department and commenced their roles subsequent to the acquisition in 2019 and are not, therefore, by virtue of the Regulations or otherwise, within scope of the collective agreement in question, meaning that their target bonus for the purposes of the AIP is that which applies globally to all Thermo Fisher band 5 employees i.e. 8%.

Discussion and Recommendation

The Court finds that the Union’s claim on behalf of the Workers is not well-founded. The Company, nevertheless, has proposed a once-off payment to the Workers of €1500.00 as a goodwill gesture, in full and final settlement of the within dispute. The Court recommends that the Workers accept the Company’s offer, in full and final settlement, and that the payment should be made by the Company, on acceptance, in the most tax efficient manner permissible.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
TH	______________________
11th December 2024	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Therese Hickey, Court Secretary.