Labour Court recommends HSE West return worker’s grievance to Stage 3

The Labour Court recommended that HSE West and a worker return to Stage 3 of the grievance procedure over her acting appointment and incremental pay claim. The recommendation, dated 21 February 2008, did not decide the merits of the pay claim. The worker was employed as a Clinical Placement Coordinator at Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick and had held the post on an acting basis since 2001. The union said the prolonged acting appointment had denied her salary-scale progression. HSE West argued that changing remuneration locally could conflict with national agreements and affect other health service employees. The Court said the grievance procedures had not worked as they should. It recommended that the parties resume Stage 3 without delay and, if the matter remained unresolved, move to Stage 4 within two weeks, with an early referral to the Rights Commissioner Service or the Labour Relations Commission’s Conciliation Service.