LCR23108

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No’s: ADJ-000495543 (CA-00060777-001 IR SC-00003083).

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the Adjudication Officer’s Recommendation to the Labour Court on 18 July 2024 in accordance with Section 13(9) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969.

On 28 May 2024 the Adjudication Officer issued the following Recommendation:

I recommend that both parties accept that the industrial relations process is not the appropriate forum to address this dispute, particularly when legal proceedings are already underway.’’

A Labour Court hearing took place on 28 January 2025.

DECISION:

Background to the Appeal

This is an appeal by the Worker – a Member of An Garda Siochana – from a Recommendation of an Adjudication Officer (IR-SC-00002038, dated 28 May 2024) under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969. Notice of Appeal was received in the Court on 8 July 2024. The Court heard the appeal in Galway on 28 January 2025.

Background to the Dispute

The Worker submits that she has certain concerns about whether or not her employer, An Garda Siochana, correctly implemented its own procedures (as documented in ‘Working Together To Create a Positive Working Environment’) when processing a complaint that she initiated in August 2018 against senior management in the Garda Station where she was located.

The Court was informed at the commencement of the hearing of this appeal that the Worker has initiated High Court proceedings, the substance of which relates to issues central to the dispute she has referred under the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

The Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer

The Adjudication Officer concluded his Recommendation as follows:

“As it was confirmed by both sides during the hearing that legal matters are ongoing on the same or similar issues, the voluntary process of industrial relations is not an appropriate forum for this dispute.

Therefore, I recommend that both parties accept that the industrial relations process is not the appropriate forum to address this dispute, particularly when legal proceedings are already underway.”

Discussion and Decision

This Court’s function when dealing with any dispute referred to it under the Industrial Relations Acts is to ‘[set] forth its opinion on the merits of the dispute and the terms on which it should be settled’. This Court is ‘the court of last resort’ in industrial relations matters. The process before the Court is one in which the parties voluntarily engage with a view to accepting the Court’s non-binding recommendation as providing a resolution to their dispute.

It follows that the Parties cannot simultaneously be engaged in legal proceedings in the civil courts and participating on a voluntary basis before this Court in relation to the same issues.

For this reason, the Court upholds the Recommendation of the Adjudication Officer in in full and declines to make a decision in relation to the merits of the Parties’ dispute.

The Court so decides.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
TH	______________________
5th March 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

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