Labour Court recommends 84-hour leave deduction for two weeks’ summer leave at BD Drogheda

The Labour Court recommended that BD Drogheda apply an 84-hour deduction from workers’ leave banks when they take two weeks’ holidays between May and September. Its recommendation, signed on 7 October 2021, followed a dispute involving about 104 general operatives represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union. The union said the end of the two-week summer shutdown and frozen rosters had affected hours worked and the ability to take two continuous weeks of summer leave. BD Drogheda said the shutdown was an operational practice, not an agreement, and that differences in hours balanced over time. The Court recommended that the summer shutdown would not continue for the foreseeable future, efforts to facilitate July and August leave, and a joint review of roster and leave practices.