FULL DECISION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS 1946 TO 2015 SECTION 13(9), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES: KILKENNY COUNTY COUNCIL (REPRESENTED BY LGMA) AND A WORKER (REPRESENTED BY SIPTU) DIVISION:
Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00039290 (SC-00000329).
The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour Court on 2 June 2023 in On 21 June 2023 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation: “Having reviewed all the arguments, both oral and written, the Recommendation is that the position of the Local No payment is recommended for the disputed period.’’ A Labour Court hearing took place on 18 January 2024 DECISION: The Court has given very careful consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties. The Court notes that the Chief Fire Officer decided that the Appellant should complete a training programme before undertaking driving duties following his removal from such duties in November / December 2019 for a period of a minimum of two years. The effect of the imposing a requirement to complete a training programme before returning to driving duties was that the worker’s return to driving was delayed by a period of approximately six months and, according to the Trade Union, he suffered a loss arising from that delay of €1,395.40 versus what he would have earned if he had returned to driving duties in December 2021. That estimate was not disputed by the employer. The loss arose from the fact that payment of a driving allowance was delayed pending the worker’s return to driving duties. It is not disputed that the delay arose for practical reasons in that the employer was not able to make the required training programme available to the worker until March / April 2022. He returned to driving duties on 3rd May 2022 immediately on his successful completion of the programme. The Court notes that the employer did not, in anticipation of his potential return to driving duties in December 2021, place the worker on a training programme which was run in the employment in September 2021. In all of the circumstances of this matter the Court recommends that both parties accept that the delay in returning to driving was a good faith consequence of a review by the Chief Fire Officer and the practicalities of arranging training. A result of these events was the loss of €1,395.40 by the worker. Against that background, the Court recommends that the Council, in the interest of good industrial relations, should make a gesture of goodwill to the worker by making a payment to him of €697.70 in full and final settlement of this trade dispute. The Court so decides.
NOTE Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Therese Hickey, Court Secretary. |
