Labour Court recommends HSE interim out-of-hours offer for public health doctors

The Labour Court recommended that the Health Service Executive - Employers Agency’s interim offer of €500 a week for out-of-hours cover be accepted, pending a review by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Service. The recommendation was signed on 14 June 2007. The Irish Medical Organisation sought either consultant-level pay of about €180,000 a year or an on-call rate of about €60,000, potentially rising to €80,000, for five public health doctors. It also sought a 7.5% interim increase. The employer said its €500 weekly offer was reasonable and argued the doctors were outside the scope of the Review Body’s 7.5% recommendation because their salaries had been adjusted through benchmarking. The Court recommended that any more favourable arrangements from the Review Body apply retrospectively from the start of the interim arrangement. It did not recommend conceding the union’s claim for the 7.5% increase because the claimants’ salaries had been adjusted through benchmarking.