Labour Court recommends €4,500 payment in Courthall relocation dispute

The Labour Court recommended a once-off €4,000 payment for eligible staff transferred from the Courthall unit, with €4,500 for one employee with 17 years’ service. The recommendation, dated 28 May 2007, followed the unit’s closure and transfer of staff to community locations. HSE - Dublin Mid Leinster and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union, and Irish National Teachers Organisation disputed community and location allowances, pay-scale assimilation and relocation payments. The Court rejected extending the community allowance beyond the agreed formula and did not recommend the claim for assimilation to the new scale. For five nurses seeking location allowances, it recommended an independent evaluation of whether the criteria applied. For relocation, the Court said the circumstances fell outside the rules for normal ongoing change. It recommended payment for staff who had no alternative but to leave Courthall, cooperated with the closure and continued providing services at community locations.