The Labour Court recommended on 6 December 2011 that consideration of a worker’s claim for a permanent Project Officer post at HSE West be deferred for five months while national negotiations on long-term acting positions continued. The worker, represented by INMO, had acted in the role for eight years. The Court said there was merit in the union’s case but did not make a definitive recommendation while negotiations were under way. It recommended that the worker remain in the acting position during the deferral. If a national agreement was not reached within five months, the claim should be considered on its own merits.