Labour Court recommends two HSE grades be treated as equivalent to Grade VII

The Labour Court recommended that Senior Environmental Health Officers and Neurophysiological Technician Chief II be treated as equivalent to Grade VII for the purposes of Appendix 9 of the Haddington Road Agreement. The recommendation was signed on 27 January 2016. The dispute between the HSE and the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union concerned increased working hours that resulted in a 37-hour week. The union said the HSE had increased hours without prior engagement and sought reimbursement for additional time worked. The HSE said the agreement set out the increased hours and the grades were not protected by the relevant provisions. The Court found that the grades’ terms and conditions were mainly based on Grade VII and that the €188 annual excess over that grade’s maximum pay point was not enough to make them non-equivalent. It recommended that any adjustment to working hours take effect from the date of the recommendation.