Dublin City Council's 6,500 staff have lost a claim for paid time-off to go to church on each of the holy days during the year.
Siptu and Impact members took their pay claim to the Labour Court saying paid time-off for worship had been a long-standing tradition and custom and practice for over 20 years.
The payment deal had applied to holy days when they fell on normal working days. If it was to be scrapped, the unions wanted the court to recommend a compensation package. The unions said the council had "removed the privileged time-off without discussion or agreement".
Talks at a conciliation conference under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission failed to resolve the dispute and the matter ended up in the Labour Court. The court yesterday rejected the claim as having no merit.
"Concession of compensation would be onerous from a financial viewpoint as any such payment would, on the basis of equality, have to include all 6,500 staff in the council's employment," the council argued.