Central Mental Hospital staff to share €2m compensation package

About 100 staff in the Central Mental Hospital who are members of the trade union Siptu are to share a compensation package of more than €2 million for loss of overtime following work practice changes.

The Labour Court has found that losses experienced by staff arising from a cost-saving agreement on work practice changes in 2011 should be compensated using the formula for loss of earnings set out under the former Croke Park agreement on public service pay and productivity.

Siptu said that a re-configuration of services at the Central Mental Hospital had led to an erosion of workers’ terms and conditions.

The union had argued in the Labour Court proceedings that they were entitled to once-off compensation of 1.5 times the actual financial loss.

Management had said it was willing to pay compensation in respect of overtime that had been built into rosters, but that this should not apply to the loss of non-mandatory overtime or for overtime lost following the recruitment of 25 new staff at the hospital.

The union maintained that a move by management to offer compensation only for selected losses of income was a step too far for workers.

Siptu organiser David Field said the case had been brought to the Labour Court after protracted talks between the union and management had failed to produce an outcome acceptable to its members in the Central Mental Hospital.

He said up to 100 Siptu members at the Central Mental Hospital would benefit from the binding recommendation issued by the Labour Court that they should receive a compensation package of over €2 million in total.

Siptu health division organiser Paul Bell said the Labour Court recommendation represented "a vindication of the union's position concerning the right of workers for full compensation when their terms and conditions are altered by management".

"This Labour Court recommendation not only vindicates the determination of our members to achieve a fair and just outcome but it also, once and for all, clarifies that the employer, in this case the HSE, has no right to select which elements of loss in terms of workers' terms and conditions it will compensate for when it instigates changes. This is a fundamental issue for all unions who are bound by the Haddington Road public service agreement.

“Our members should now be paid the compensation owed to them without delay.”