Fórsa is set to table a claim to seek to bring pay parity across the legal profession in the civil service, due to a “two-tier” approach to pay for workers.

Fórsa official Seán Carabini explained that, currently, there are significant anomalies in the civil service for legal professionals, depending on the areas of work.

“If you are a solicitor working in areas such as the Legal Aid Board or IHREC, you can be on a pay scale that stops some €25k short of the legal professional pay scales available in places such as the DPP or the CSSO. Despite requiring the same qualifications, specialisms and carrying similar caseloads, the state has chosen to pay a lesser amount to legal professionals working in some areas,” he said.

Fórsa has tried to resolve this issue locally, but to date has been unsuccessful, as the authority to engage on this matter rests not with each employment, but with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

“There is an inequity that needs to be resolved. Now that items such as mobility schemes for legal professionals are under discussion, and that we have exhausted all local avenues of resolution, it is time to formally bring this matter to the attention of Public Expenditure and Reform to see if it is possible to make progress,” explained Seán.

Seán stressed that areas such as the Legal Aid Board and IHREC do important work for the state and workers need to be paid appropriately.

“The state needs to ensure that it brings an end to the current two-tier pay approach for these important roles and use the State Solicitor pay scale as the common pay scale for all solicitors working on its behalf,” he said.