Labour Court recommends €7,500 payment in Smurfit Kappa redundancy dispute

The Labour Court recommended a €7,500 co-operation payment and improved redundancy terms for 16 employees at Smurfit Kappa News Press Limited’s Kells plant. Its recommendation, signed on 6 May 2010, included four and a half weeks’ pay per year of service, inclusive of statutory redundancy entitlements. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union had disputed the company’s selection criteria and sought restoration of an 8% pay reduction in the redundancy calculation. The Court upheld selection on a last-in, first-out basis, subject to retaining employees with identified key skills. It also recommended calculating redundancy payments using February 2010 pay rates, before the reduction.