Labour Court recommends €3,700 annual allowance for hospital social work manager

The Labour Court recommended that University College Hospital Galway concede a social work manager’s claim to a €3,700-a-year allowance from 9 February 2009. The recommendation was signed on 24 March 2011. The Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union said the claimant was the only social work services manager in a major hospital not receiving the differential. The hospital, represented by the Health Services Executive, said the allowance applied only to staff in the former Eastern Regional Health Authority and cited its financial position and possible national effects. The Court found merit in the union’s case, noting that the HSE had extended the allowance to an employee in Cork in an identical post and that a previous Labour Court recommendation later provided that employee with full retrospection. It recommended concession on a personal-to-holder basis from the date the claim was first made.