Labour Court dismisses worker’s pension appeal against Diageo

The Labour Court disallowed a worker’s appeal over his voluntary redundancy pension arrangements and affirmed the Rights Commissioner’s decision. The decision was signed on 18 December 2013. The worker argued that his normal retirement age was 62 and that he had not agreed to a change to 65. Diageo said his pension was calculated under the scheme rules and that he freely accepted the arrangements when he chose voluntary redundancy. The Court found that the contributory pension scheme set retirement age at 65, while the non-contributory scheme had an earlier age of 62. It said Diageo’s statements that his retirement age was 62 were erroneous and could not give him an entitlement contrary to the scheme rules.