Labour Court recommends Mount Carmel regularise time off for hospital appointments

The Labour Court recommended that Mount Carmel Hospital and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union meet to regularise a practice allowing laundry and catering staff time off for hospital appointments. The recommendation was dated 26 June 2001. The union said staff had long been allowed time off on producing appointment cards, but management said it did not know of the practice and required annual or unpaid leave. The Court cited the past custom of allowing time off and recommended that the parties use both sides’ experience to regularise it.