Fórsa has succeeded in taking a claim to the Civil Service Adjudicator on behalf of coast guard members. Over the past decade, Irish Coast Guard (IRCG) management had sought to cease the use of official IRCG vehicles by staff for the commute to and from their workplace.

However, Fórsa officials had argued that to do so would make it more difficult to be available to respond to emergency situations, something that is required and expected of certain IRCG members.

It was asserted that immediate access to an official vehicle was, in effect, part of the terms and conditions of the employment. This was supported by a 2002 management directive that required certain members of staff to bring their vehicles home with them in order to be better able to respond in certain emergency circumstances.

Management had stated that they needed to revise the policy because it was their belief that the requirement to bring vehicles home could, in effect, give rise to benefit in kind considerations.

The adjudicator, however, found that this, in effect, confirmed that the use of the vehicles, as a taxable benefit, constituted income and that access to official vehicles at home was, de facto, a condition of employment in this area.

Therefore, any change to the policy would require compensation. It was recommended that the Mulvey formula of 1.5 times loss be used, which compares earnings 12 months apart and can award a compensation of 1.5 times that amount.

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