Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

A Worker

A Health Care Service Provider

Representatives

SIPTU

 Employer HR Manager

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00031676

18/10/2019

The Worker seeks set work hours to accommodate family commitments/ children with additional needs.

The Worker commenced work in the Employer’s endoscopy Department in February 2015. His hours of work were 39 hours spread over Monday to Thursday. He did not work any Friday or any weekend.

The Worker is challenging the imposition of a change to his working hours following a reassignment in September 2019 from endoscopy to the Respondent’s CSSD (Central Sterile Supply Department), which the Worker neither sought nor wanted. Following this reassignment his work hours changed and he was required to work on Fridays and some weekends.

The Worker’s children have special needs and he and his wife are committed to providing them with as much early intervention assistance as possible. Maintaining this intervention would not be possible if the Worker has to work on Fridays and weekends (when his wife works.)

The Worker currently does not work Fridays Saturdays or Sundays and requests that this arrangement is maintained.  He still works 39 hours each week but these hours are spread out on Monday Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday only.

If the Respondent is unable to continue this arrangement in the long term the Worker requests that his current work hours be maintained at least for the next year or eighteen months. At least that would allow his children to get a bit older and to maintain their therapeutic interventions for longer.

In response to the Employer’s suggestion that he change to a flexible contract or take up an alternative post in which the hours are less, the Worker said that this would mean a reduction to his salary which the family is reliant on.

This Worker issued this complaint on the 18th of October 2019.

The Worker’s contract allows the Employer to change his post if the Employer services needs require.

The Employer acted in accordance with the Worker’s employment contract in requiring him to transfer from Endoscopy to CSSD. It did so because surgery is where the CSSD is most acutely needed and that need has significantly increased in the four years since this complaint issued, during which the Complainant has not been required to work any Friday, Saturday or Sunday. All his colleagues are required to do weekend work. This has caused significant industrial relations disquiet within the CSSD Team who feel that the Worker is getting favourable treatment. His colleagues also have personal issues to deal with and would also like to not have to work Fridays and weekends. This has given rise to IR complaints being made to management.

During the course of the WRC investigation, in January 2023 the Employer made an offer to accommodate the Worker’s needs. This offer would have ensured that he work only one weekend in eight and five Fridays out of eight.

The Employer submits that this was a very reasonable accommodation and yet the Worker rejected it.  The workload of the CSSD department has increased. The need is for work to be done over 7 days. Fridays are an important day for cover because annual leave is often taken on Fridays. This is what the job requires. If the hours do not suit the Worker,  he is free to change jobs within the service or go on flexible (part-time) hours. While the Employer has sympathy for the Worker, he is not the only worker in the department who has additional personal/domestic commitments to bear.

The Employer seeks a recommendation that the Worker be required to work the accommodated hours that were offered to him in January 2023 and if the status quo hours are maintained for any further temporary period - to allow the Worker put family arrangements in place -  the Employer asks that it be limited to a maximum of 6 months and thereafter that  it reverts to the Respondent accommodated hours offer of one weekend in eight and five Fridays out of eight.

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

In light of the challenging family circumstances that the Worker finds himself in and balancing that with the very reasonable need that the Employer has to ensure that the work of the CSSD is spread over a 7 day period  - acknowledging that the Worker’s employment contract permitted the Employer to transfer him from Endoscopy to CSSD and further acknowledging that the Employer has facilitated the Worker to date - I recommend that the Worker continue on his current hours until the end of February 2025 and that on the week commencing 3 March 2025 the Worker either start working the Respondents accommodated hours (as set out in the  8 week calendar that the Employer provided me with at the Adjudication hearing) or (by that same date) have moved to an alternative post/flexible hours which affords him the flexibility that he and his family needs require.

Change of work hours