The Labour Court upheld the Adjudication Officer’s decision and dismissed Brian Collins’s appeal over the starting pay for his promotion to Executive Officer ICT Specialist. The determination was dated 11 April 2018. The Court found that the higher rate printed in Collins’s contract was not properly payable.
Collins, a civil servant, said he had signed a contract showing the higher rate and might not have taken the position if he had been offered the lower rate. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said the rate was included by mistake, apologised and corrected it. It said Collins was on the correct rate and had been paid any money due from his promotion.
The Court said an unlawful-deduction claim requires the wages to have been properly payable. It found the rate in Collins’s contract did not meet that test, so his appeal failed and the Adjudication Officer’s decision stood.