Labour Court recommended restoring Shelbourne Hotel worker’s service-charge share

In 2002, the Labour Court recommended that Shelbourne Hotel immediately resume allocating a service-charge share to a carpenter who had received it since 1987. The recommendation was dated 22 January 2002, after a claim brought on the worker’s behalf by Building and Allied Trades Union. The share was withdrawn in April 2000, when the union administering the scheme found it had been allocated in error. The union argued that the withdrawal changed the worker’s conditions without negotiation or explanation. Shelbourne Hotel said the union determined eligibility and instructed it to process payments through payroll. The Court noted that the hotel did not fund the scheme directly but provided a payroll facility. It found the payment had been withdrawn without the worker’s approval and recommended that the allocation recommence immediately. The union had agreed to be bound by the recommendation.