Labour Court recommends €500 for each of Two Workers after vehicle facility withdrawn

The Labour Court recommended that Hammond Lane Metal Company Limited pay €500 to each of Two Workers represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union in full and final settlement of a dispute over the withdrawal of company vehicles for commuting. It varied the Rights Commissioner's recommendation and said the union should accept the payment. The decision was signed on 4 May 2012. The workers said they had long used company vehicles to travel to and from work and had spent money securing them overnight at home. The company said its insurer would no longer cover vehicles kept off its premises overnight, and that taking them home had been a work practice rather than an employment term. It also argued the dispute had been settled through an agreement involving a lump sum. The Court said the parties held different but genuine views about whether a national agreement had settled the claim, and that the written record did not support the company's position. It found that ending the commuting facility caused the workers additional and unexpected expense.