Council ordered to pay caretaker €5,000 compensation
A dispute over the working week of a waterworks employee has landed Galway County Council in hot water.
The Labour Court has recommended that the local authority pays one of its workers some €5,000 compensation to settle a dispute over shift patterns.
The man was employed in May 2012 as a waterworks caretaker to work a 39-hours week on a five-over-seven-days shift.
The contract of employment stated that the Council reserved the right to alter his hours of work from time to time.
In February of 2014, a vacancy arose when a colleague was transferred to another section, and the claimant was required to cover Sundays on a shared basis from then until September.
Then, in September, he was told he would have to cover all Sundays until another caretaker was appointed at the plant.
The worker objected to the changes but agreed to do so under protest, while the matter was being addressed through the grievance procedure. In August 2015, the vacant position was filled and the claimant now works a six-over-seven-days shift.
At a hearing in April, the Council argued that the requirement to work a seven-over-seven-days shift reflects the “normal working pattern for waterworks and sewerage caretakers and the hours of work comply with the Organisation of Working Time Act”.
It said the claimant was “at all times aware that it was seeking to fill the vacant post, however, there were necessary processes to go through and it was obliged to put an alternative arrangement in place in the meantime.”
The worker argued that his terms of employment were breached when the Council altered his contract without mutual consent, forcing him to work on a seven-over-seven contract. He said he had been professional at all times by making sure the treatment plant was covered at all times, “albeit under protest”.
The court ruled the claimant should continue to work the six over seven shift that is currently in operation.
Its ruling added: “Having examined the timetable and process which the Council had to engage in, in order to fill the vacant post, the Court is of the view that due to the serious and unacceptable delay in filling that post, the claimant should be compensated by a payment of €5,000 in full and final settlement.”