Labour Court recommends 2014 formula for retained firefighters’ earnings loss

The Labour Court recommended that Galway County Council use a 2014 formula to calculate retained firefighters’ loss of earnings after Carraroe fire station opened. The recommendation was dated 2 April 2019. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union said the formula had been agreed and later confirmed in correspondence. Galway County Council accepted that earnings loss had arisen, but said its human resources department considered the formula inconsistent with the Public Service Agreement. The Court said the parties had not been told in advance that the 2014 process would stop applying, and recommended the standard agreement approach for future cases.