Labour Court declines to recommend average pay for Irish Rail worker

The Labour Court declined to recommend that Irish Rail concede a worker’s claim for average pay during six months of illness in 2019 and 2020. The worker said his illness was related to a workplace accident and that the company’s Director of HR should have used discretion to grant the pay. Irish Rail said average pay for a workplace injury depended on advice from its chief medical officer and a review of the evidence. It said the worker received sick pay under the employment agreements because the injury could not be attributed to a specific workplace accident. The Court found no basis to recommend setting aside the Director of HR’s decision. The worker, represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, had appealed an Adjudication Officer’s decision that his claim was not well founded. The Labour Court’s decision was signed on 20 January 2022.