The Labour Court recommended that Ess Ltd pay two mechanical engineering technicians €5,000 each to settle a claim for lost Saturday overtime. The recommendation, signed on 19 June 2013, set two instalments of €2,500 each for July 2013 and July 2014. Unite said the Saturday overtime was an established practice and workers were expected to do it. Ess Ltd argued the work was voluntary, was not rostered and had stopped at the direction of Bord Gáis Éireann Networks, outside its control. The Court found that a pattern of working one in three Saturdays had been established, while noting the technicians continued to earn substantial overtime.