Labour Court recommends €15,000 each for two Longford County Council street cleaners

The Labour Court allowed the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s appeal and varied the recommendations for three Longford County Council street cleaners after regular weekend overtime ended. The decision was dated 7 February 2003. The Court recommended €15,000 each for Mr Nolan and Mr O’Neill. For Mr Stokes, it recommended €5,000 at that time, with a further €10,000 if he returned permanently to work and had at least two years before retirement. The union said the Saturday and Sunday overtime had been regular, rostered and pensionable, and that its loss reduced the workers’ pension entitlements. The Council said Longford Urban Council had ended the arrangement and disputed the scale of the losses. The Court found that the original recommendations did not adequately cover the longer-term loss of pension entitlements and varied them accordingly.