Labour Court upholds recommendation in Omega Teknika holiday-pay appeal

The Labour Court upheld a Rights Commissioner’s recommendation that a worker arrange to take replacement holidays as Omega Teknika Ltd had suggested. The decision was dated 18 November 2004. The worker injured her foot shortly before annual leave in August 2003. She later submitted a Social Welfare form for disability or injury benefits covering the two-week holiday period. The company said it had already paid her for that period and offered 10 working days’ leave at her own expense, subject to a doctor’s certificate. The worker did not sign the company’s memo, and the Social Welfare time limit expired. The union appealed the Rights Commissioner’s recommendation on the worker’s behalf, seeking two weeks’ holiday pay. The company argued she had already received holiday pay and was not entitled to sick pay under its scheme because of the delay in submitting a certificate. The Labour Court upheld the recommendation as the correct interpretation of the matter.