Labour Court recommends against CONNECT claim on Henkel absence rule

The Labour Court recommended against Connect Trade Union’s claim over how Henkel Ireland Operations And Research Ltd counts absences under its sick pay policy. The recommendation was dated 17 July 2019. Under the policy, the first two days of a subsequent absence are unpaid after an employee has been absent for 25 days in a rolling 12-month period. CONNECT argued that only absences under the sick pay scheme should count; the company argued that absences under both the sick pay and long-term disability schemes should be combined. The Court found the union’s claim without merit. It noted that CONNECT had not raised the issue during negotiations before the agreement’s June 2018 renewal and that only one of the three recognised unions was a party to the dispute.