Increase in minimum annual leave should not affect service-related leave, says Labour Court

In October 2000, the Irish Labour Court rejected proposals by Irish Rail to alter its service-related leave scheme to offset the costs involved in increasing annual leave entitlement in order to conform with the terms of the EU working time Directive.

The national adjudication body, the Labour Court, has rejected proposals from the state-run railway company Irish Rail to increase the qualifying thresholds for service-related leave entitlement. The increased thresholds had been proposed by the company in order to offset the cost of an extra day of annual leave, which it had to introduce under the terms of the Irish legislation transposing the EU Directive (93/104/EC) on certain aspects of the organisation of working time.

While the Labour Court's recommendations, issued in October 2000, are not legally binding, they have significant moral force and are usually accepted by the employer side. Its findings set no legal precedent for similar situations in other EU Member States, but the recommendation – and the arguments of the parties at the Court – may provide some guidance to others on such situations.

The recommendation affects about 4,000 workers – essentially all those in non-management grades at Irish Rail. Prior to the 1997 Organisation of Working Time Act (which implemented the working time Directive in Ireland), they had 19 days annual leave, plus up to three extra days of service-related leave, awarded as follows: one day after five years' service; two days after seven years' service; and three days after 10 years' service. The 1997 Act imposed a 20-day minimum for annual leave from April 1999, so the company complied with this. However, to offset the costs involved, it proposed increasing the thresholds in the service-related leave scheme, as follows: one day after eight years' service; two days after 10 years' service; and three days after 12 years' service.

Irish Rail argued that the alternative would have been to increase annual leave to 20 days, but then to apply the service leave as one day after seven years' service and two days after 10 years. It told the Court that it did not accept that improvements in statutory entitlements to annual leave automatically meant extra leave days for those who were already above the statutory minimum because of service-related leave.

One of the trade unions involved, the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union (SIPTU), argued that the two state bus companies (owned by the same holding company as Irish Rail) had paid the extra annual leave day without altering service-related leave. Another union, the National Bus and Railway Union (NBRU), argued that service-related leave was "totally divorced" from legal annual leave entitlements.

The Court said that the company should "desist from seeking to adjust the qualifying years" associated with eligibility for service leave.