Labour Court amends Mangan Brothers recommendation to fund HGV training

In 2002, the Labour Court amended a Rights Commissioner’s recommendation in a redundancy dispute involving Mangan Brothers Limited and a worker with 27 years’ service. The decision was signed on 24 June 2002, after the company appealed. The Court recommended that the company pay for the training needed for the worker to obtain an HGV licence and assign him to driving duties if he obtained one. Mangan Brothers said it had offered the worker alternative work as a general operative and asked him to obtain a licence before it contracted out deliveries. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union said he had worked exclusively as a driver for 14 years, could not afford lessons and had asked the company to pay for them. The Court found he had declined to obtain a licence because he had not been told the company would cover the costs. Training was to begin as soon as possible and within three months of the decision.