WRC recommends €5,000 for paramedic’s acting supervisor role

The Workplace Relations Commission recommended that an ambulance service pay a paramedic €5,000 in recognition of the time he spent acting as a supervisor, but did not recommend making him permanent in the grade. The recommendation was dated 25 August 2022. The paramedic, represented by SIPTU, had acted as a supervisor from 2013 and sought regularisation. The ambulance service said a permanent vacancy arose in 2017, he did not make the panel in an open competition in 2018, and delays in national recruitment prolonged the acting arrangement. The adjudicator said regularisation would conflict with the agreement requiring an open competition. The paramedic continued acting for about two years after the competition, beyond the timeframe in the employer’s policies, and the WRC recommended a recognition payment. Outstanding acting payments for an earlier period had been resolved separately.