Labour Court recommends 39-hour week and back pay for HSE catering assistants

The Labour Court recommended that the Health Service Executive and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union accept terms reducing catering assistants' working week at Naas General Hospital from 40 hours to 39, with retrospective payments for weeks when the 40th hour was not paid at time-and-a-half. The recommendation was signed on 27 August 2008. The union sought extra annual leave and compensation for the additional hour. The Court said the parties had reached a general understanding on 5 December 2007. It recommended that changes to working time be agreed locally, that eligible retrospective payments use the current rate of pay, and that compensation for buying out the 40th hour be twice the annual loss at the current rate. Payments were to be made in two equal instalments, on 1 September 2008 and 1 March 2009.