LCR22962

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00044649 (CA-00055480 IR-SC-00001155)

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour Court on 6 February 2024 in accordance with Section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969.

On 22 January 2024 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation:

‘’Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute. I make no recommendation.’’

A Labour Court hearing took place on 3 May 2024.

DECISION:

Background to the Appeal

This is an appeal by the Worker from a Recommendation of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-0004469, dated 22 January 2024) under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969. Notice of Appeal was received in the Court on 6 February 2024. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 3 May 2024.

The Dispute

The Worker is employed as a General Operative in Dublin City Council’s (‘the Council’) Waste Management Services Division. He acted up in a relief supervisory role for a short period of time in 2021 until he was removed from the relief acting up panel.

It is the Worker’s submission that he had been placed on a relief acting up panel in 2020 and was appointed from that panel in 2021 to act as relief supervisory role when those ahead of him on the panel had become unavailable to do so. He also submits that he was wrongly removed from the panel and asked to step down from his acting role in September 2021. He is now seeking compensation for the consequent loss of earnings of €100.00 per week he suffered and for the loss of opportunity to gain additional supervisory experience.

It is submitted on behalf of the Council that the Worker was unsuccessful in his application for inclusion on the relief panel and was so informed by letter dated 17 February 2020. A copy of that letter was exhibited at the hearing. It is further submitted that the Worker was erroneously invited by his Line Manager to act up in the Supervisor’s role in February 2021, although he was not on the acting up panel. When the error was brought to the attention of the senior manager in Waste Management Services, local management were instructed to use the panel for intermittent acting. Subsequently, it appears the Worker’s colleagues who were on the panel approached management with a proposal that the Worker be included on the panel for carrying out intermittent acting roles. This request was approved. The acting panel was superseded in October 2022.

Discussion and Decision

It is apparent that the Worker benefitted from an error on the part of his local manager in so far as he was called on to act up in a supervisory capacity between February and September 2021 although he was not actually on the relevant acting up panel. After the error came to light, and local management had been instructed to utilise colleagues who had been placed on the panel, the Worker’s colleagues successfully intervened on his behalf to have him effectively placed on the panel for the remainder of its lifetime.

The Worker has not suffered any detriment and no compensation is payable to him. His claim for compensation is not well-founded. The Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer is upheld and the appeal is dismissed.

The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
CN	______________________
10 May 2024	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Cathal Nerney, Court Secretary.