Labour Court recommends £12,000 for 11 Incorporated Orthopaedic Hospital nurses

In 1996, the Labour Court recommended that the Incorporated Orthopaedic Hospital pay £12,000 to 11 nurses over changes to their annual leave arrangements. The recommendation, dated 11 November 1996, said the payment should be divided pro rata according to how long each nurse had enjoyed the existing arrangements, in return for agreement to a 78-hour fortnight. The nurses worked 10.5-hour days and received 33 days off a year, including public holidays. The hospital argued that their leave should be calculated using a 7.8-hour day and that the higher entitlement resulted from a management oversight. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union said the existing hours reflected the nurses' average working day and formed part of their established employment terms.