Labour Court recommends €2,000 each for two Goat Grill workers

The Labour Court recommended €2,000 in compensation for each of two waiting staff at Charjon Investments Ltd T/A The Goat Grill, varying a Rights Commissioner’s earlier €1,000 recommendation. The decision was signed on 24 May 2006. The union appealed on the workers’ behalf. It said their hours had been reduced by two hours a week after they queried breaks, cutting their weekly earnings, and that their pay was below the negotiated trade rate. The company said it shortened the lunch shift because business had declined, all staff were affected, and the workers were unwilling to take evening and weekend shifts. The Court accepted the negotiated trade rate as appropriate and found the reduction in hours unfair.