Labour Court: The Labour Court has told the Health Service Executive (HSE) it must look after seven staff who were made redundant when a day centre which cared for traveller children closed down.
In a strongly worded finding, the Labour Court said it would regard it as "indefensible" for the claimants (the former workers) to be left without a reasonable settlement.
St Columba's Day Care centre, established in 1977, provided a service to traveller children who were at risk and vulnerable to neglect and abuse. It had been managed by a voluntary board and funded by the former health board. A primary school was managed and funded by the Department of Education.
In August 2004 the Department of Education said the school would be closing from June 2005. As a result of this the HSE told the board of the day care centre - which supported the children attending the school - that it would also cease at the same time.
The staff were told they would be made redundant at the end of the school year.
The HSE agreed to pay statutory redundancy and to provide monies towards retraining. This was rejected. When the dispute could not be resolved it was eventually referred to the Labour Court.
Among the unions' argument was that other similar organisations had got more favourable packages than they were seeking and that the norm across the sector would consist of redeployment or otherwise agreed severance terms. The HSE argued that the employees were not employed by them, did not form part of their staff and therefore no budget existed.
The HSE, which is responsible for running the State's health and social services, replaced the health boards last year.
The Labour Court said the centre and its staff had provided "a necessary and valuable social service over many years to vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society". It said all parties accepted that the unions' claim was reasonable and had merit. (The unions' claim is for four weeks pay per year of service, including statutory redundancy, per employee, which it said was very reasonable.) The seven workers were represented by Impact and the INTO.
"The only impediment to its concession is the failure of the appropriate public authority to make the necessary funding available," it said.
The court said that having regard to the background against which the redundancies arose, the court would regard it as indefensible for the claimants to be left "without a reasonable settlement".
"The court has no hesitation in recommending that the unions' claim be conceded and strongly urges the appropriate authorities to make the necessary funding available," it said.