Unions representing more than 100,000 healthcare staff have claimed that the Health Service Executive (HSE) breached the terms of the national agreement, Towards 2016, as well as a deal governing employee information and consultation rights, in the manner in which it implemented an employment freeze last September.
A complaint over the decision by the HSE to introduce unilaterally the recruitment ban last autumn, as part of a plan to deal with a €200 million financial overrun at the time, was brought to the Labour Court yesterday by trade unions representing workers in the health sector.
The HSE has strongly denied it breached any agreements.
The HSE announced in December that the recruitment freeze had been lifted, however the national secretary of the trade union Impact, Kevin Callinan, said in recent weeks that management had put in place stringent new employment control measures.
He said earlier this month the HSE had issued a circular which effectively abolished posts that were unfilled at the introduction of the original recruitment freeze last September as well as those that became vacant up until the measure was lifted three months later.
Mr Callinan maintained that the circular stated that only critical frontline vacancies that arose before 2008 could be filled - and only if other vacant posts that arose this year were done away with.
He said that the bizarre and unworkable new policy was hurting patients and service users, while placing intolerable burdens on workers.
He maintained that posts were being suppressed by the HSE even if they were within budget, within complement and approved as necessary by the organisation as recently as last autumn.
Mr Callinan said there was great anger among staff at the new employment control measures which have been put in place by the HSE.
In its submission to the Labour Court yesterday, the HSE said the introduction of the recruitment pause had been in response to a financial overrun across the organisation.
It said that the chief executive of the HSE had responsibility and accountability to Government to ensure that services were delivered within the financial parameters set down and to ensure that the organisation met its legal obligation under the Health Act in relation to expenditure.
"There is no provision within section 28.13 of Towards 2016 which obliges the CEO of the HSE to consult with the trade unions in discharging his legal responsibility as accounting officer as provided for in the Health Act 2004," it stated.