Labour Court leaves unchanged recommendation rejecting firefighter’s compensation claim

The Labour Court left unchanged a recommendation rejecting a retained firefighter’s claim for compensation after compulsory retirement at 55. The decision was dated 19 April 2005. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union (SIPTU) appealed on the worker’s behalf, seeking a goodwill payment and citing potential loss of earnings for three years. North Tipperary County Council argued that 55 was the normal retirement age and that later arrangements did not apply retrospectively to people who had already retired. The Rights Commissioner had found no formal entitlement to additional compensation and recommended that the worker and SIPTU accept that the claim failed. The Labour Court found no grounds to alter that recommendation.