Labour Court recommends restoring HSE worker’s sick pay

The Labour Court recommended that HSE South East (Treatment Abroad Scheme) restore a worker’s sick-pay entitlement from 18 May 2014 and pay the sick pay due until her return to work on 12 August 2014. The recommendation was signed on 29 April 2016, following her appeal over removal from the scheme while on long-term sick leave. The worker, a clerical officer represented by the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union, said she should have been allowed a representative at a review meeting and sought a timely transfer. The HSE said she had failed to attend a meeting, provide medical certificates promptly and keep in regular contact. The Court rejected the union’s claim that removing sick pay was a disciplinary sanction. It found the HSE should have acted more proactively on the worker’s concerns about work-related stress and her request for a transfer, and recommended restoring her sick-pay entitlement for the period from 18 May until she returned to work.