Labour Court recommends OPW reject union claim for lost bonuses

The Labour Court recommended that the Office Of Public Works (OPW) not concede the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s claim for compensation after bonuses ended with the Boyle and Bonet drainage scheme. The recommendation was dated 23 October 1997. The union sought two years of lost earnings for seven workers retained on maintenance duties and 11 who transferred. It put the weekly loss at £70 or £80 in some cases. The OPW said bonuses applied only while workers were on the temporary scheme and that staff knew the payments would end when they chose alternatives to redundancy.