Labour Court overturns €18,000 recommendation on HSE appeal

The Labour Court allowed the HSE’s appeal and set aside a Rights Commissioner’s €18,000 recommendation to a worker over retrospective pay linked to an acting nursing appointment. The decision was signed on 18 November 2009. The union said the worker had acted as an Assistant Director of Nursing continuously from April 2000 until his permanent appointment in February 2007. The HSE said his acting appointment began in July 2004, while accepting he had done intermittent acting work before then. The Court found that Circular 03/2007 applied to people formally appointed to acting positions on or before 1 January 2004. It noted the worker had not continuously received an acting-up allowance before July 2004 and concluded he had not been formally assigned to such a post continuously. The €18,000 recommendation was set aside.