The Labour Court recommended that the HSE compensate Health Care Support Assistants for travel time from 1 March 2020, using a formula of one minute per kilometre travelled. The recommendation, dated 6 March 2020, is an interim arrangement while technical and operational issues are resolved.
The dispute, brought by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, concerned payment for travel time for about 6,500 assistants. The union sought retrospective compensation from 1 September 2018. The HSE said it was not funded for the expense and that meeting it would require a cut of about 278,000 direct client-facing hours, valued at €7 million.
The Court also recommended immediate, intensive discussions between the parties to resolve the outstanding issues.