A dispute involving Dublin City parks staff in Cabra has been resolved following a Labour Court recommendation that an eating on site allowance be paid to them. The six workers were among a minority of leisure centre staff who were not in receipt of the allowance.

IMPACT official Phil McFadden took the case on behalf of the workers in Cabra. “We sought the payment in relation to this group of staff, and it subsequently emerged the allowance is paid to only 154 of a total of 185 leisure centre staff. A total of 29 staff (including the original six) were not receiving the allowance which is set at €9.52 per week” he said.

There are approximately 1500 general operatives in Dublin City Council who are in receipt of the allowance. Phil added “Some local authorities (though not all) pay the allowance, as each authority would have arrived at different arrangements over the years depending on the level of outdoor site work each was dealing with.

“The period over which the allowance was not paid to those staff is approximately 10 years. However, the recommendation only backdated this to the conciliation date of 29th November 2013, based on a payment of €9.52 per week. The retrospection is worth somewhere between € 400 and €450 to each of the six individuals, before tax, depending on when DCC will implement the recommendation” he said.

Phil said that this may set a precedent under which the remaining 23 staff can be compensated but this remains unresolved at the moment.

Introduced in 1979, the allowance was brought about on foot of a similar allowance being paid to workers in the construction industry in the early seventies. It was originally made in respect of waterworks personnel. These were workers who, because of the nature and location of their work, were unable to go to an indoor lunch facility, or make a purchase of food near their site location. Their break time was limited to 30 minutes, so their only option was to eat on site.

The allowance was then extended to other outdoor personnel (for example, parks personnel and general operatives in similar circumstances), and also included general operative staff working in local authority leisure centres. Staff in those leisure centres were still restricted to a 30 minute break, so the allowance in this context became the standard for the grade.