Labour Court restores €96 weekly allowance to Carlow County Council worker

The Labour Court directed Carlow County Council to return a worker to its Housing Maintenance Division and restore his €96 weekly allowance. The decision was dated 6 February 2014, on the worker’s appeal from a Rights Commissioner recommendation that his claim was not well founded. The worker, represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, sought to return to Housing Maintenance after the Council moved him to alternative duties following a back injury. The Council said it could not assign work he was not fully fit to undertake and that the allowance applied only to Housing Maintenance duties. The Court noted that he was assessed as fit to carry out 95% of his duties and could be reasonably accommodated with a restriction on heavier manual work. It directed the Council to return him to the division, accommodate him and restore the allowance from the decision date.