Court finds in favour of former blood service doctor in pension dispute

A former doctor with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service should not have had her pension entitlements reduced under an emergency 2009 law cutting public-service pay, the High Court has ruled.

The Pensions Ombudsman previously granted an appeal by Dr Emer Lawlor against a decision of her pension fund trustees to allow a 15 per cent cut in public service remuneration also apply to her pension entitlements.

The cut was applied to public servants to deal with the financial crisis under the 2009 Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act. The law also provided the cut would be disregarded for people retiring before a deadline for the purpose of calculating pension entitlements.

The deadline was February 29th, 2012, and Dr Lawlor retired in October 2011.

Yesterday, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, dismissed the appeal by the trustees of the IBTS superannuation fund aimed at overturning the Pension Ombudsman’s finding in favour of Dr Lawlor and directing she be paid arrears.

Dr Lawlor had complained the trustees calculated her pension and lump sum by reference to her reduced pay at the time of her retirement but had failed to give her the protection the law also introduced if she retired before February 2012.