Labour Court recommends termination bonus for Iarnrod Eireann worker

The Labour Court recommended that Iarnrod Eireann pay Mr Murphy a termination bonus under a 2006 agreement, in a recommendation signed on 30 May 2011. The dispute involved two workers covered by the agreement on voluntary severance terms. Mr Murphy had redeployed and accepted severance after qualifying his acceptance; the company had accepted that qualification. The Court said both sides' interpretations of the agreement were equally cogent, and it found no surrounding circumstances to resolve the ambiguity. For Mr Hewitt, the Court recommended that the parties spend up to three months seeking a suitable post commensurate with his former role. If he declined redeployment, Iarnrod Eireann should offer him the current voluntary severance terms. The dispute was referred by Services Industrial Professional Technical Union N.B.R.U., which sought a bonus and a €150,000 cap for him; Iarnrod Eireann argued that the terms in force when he left applied.