Labour Court rejects clerical and admin staff claim for early retirement element in Boc Gases redundancy package

The Labour Court did not recommend concession of the 9 Clerical / Admin Staff’s claim for voluntary early retirement to be added to Boc Gases’ redundancy package. In a recommendation dated 16 January 2020, it said the package terms on offer should be accepted by both sides. The dispute followed a proposal to move the Revenue Department’s work abroad. The union proposed an alternative that kept the work in its present location, which the employer accepted, and it secured improvements to the package. The Court said an early retirement option would require an immediate €1.7 million injection into the pension scheme or risk putting the scheme under pressure; it called recommending that funding unreasonable. The employer said the package would save €250,000 a year in costs.