The Labour Court directed the Health Service Executive (HSE) to restore €12,215.80 deducted from a retired worker’s gratuity, setting aside a Rights Commissioner’s €7,000 net recommendation on the employer’s appeal. The decision was signed on 16 March 2012. The worker, represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, had worked as a gardening supervisor for 43 years.
The dispute concerned a Community Employment scheme allowance that continued after the scheme ended because of a payroll error. The worker said a verbal agreement meant the overpayment had been written off; the HSE disputed this and said he was liable to repay it. The Court found that the hospital had written off the overpayment at a union-management meeting in mid-2007.