The Labour Court has made a recommendation on a disputed assault and injury scheme for staff working on the Oberstown campus in North Dublin. The Court recommended two amendments to an existing set of management proposals presented to the union last April.
The dispute arose after a number of different work practices were identified among the various schools that amalgamated in 2009 to establish Oberstown. One of the issues that emerged was the four year rolling period for the assault and injury scheme.
IMPACT assistant general secretary Tom Hoare said the amendments provided a significant improvement on the original management proposals. He explained, “The core issue here was that staff could be unduly penalised by a four year rolling scheme because they are in a workplace with a higher risk and instance of serious assault.
IMPACT argued that the four year rolling period was not part of the existing terms and conditions for the staff who had been moved as part of the amalgamation. The matter was referred to the Labour Court in June following a conciliation conference at the Labour Relations Commission.
The new proposals formally incorporate the use of management discretion to determine whether or not to extend the scheme to an employee, who has exhausted their benefits under the scheme, within a four year period. The Court noted that management had exercised discretion about the extension of the scheme on a number of occasions in 2013.
The Court’s amendments call for an appeal mechanism, where an employee is denied an extension of benefit, and that the scheme should be reviewed after 12 months in operation.
Tom added, “This is a workplace that needs a robust and adequate assault and injury scheme in place. We’ve seen a very significant number of staff out of work due to assault-related injury this year. The amendments provide better safeguards by providing for an appeal mechanism where an extension of the scheme is denied, and the 12 month review gives all parties the opportunity to ensure that the scheme meets the needs of staff affected by assault-related injury.”
