Council accepts regular overtime should be included in pensions

After a five-year battle a SIPTU member and former Limerick Council worker has secured a major victory that could have a beneficial impact on local authority pensions across the country.
Following a Labour Court ruling and Rights Commissioner judgment the management of Limerick Council has finally accepted after several years of delays that it must include regular overtime in the calculations of workers’ pension entitlements.
The issue relates to a campaign by retired SIPTU members of the Council’s cleaning department to have their overtime calculated in their pensions. Assisted by Ger Kennedy, his union representative, Christy Young successfully brought a case to the Rights Commissioner in 2012.
The Commissioner ruled that the Council was obliged to recalculate his pensionable entitlements to include regular overtime he had worked as a council employee for 47 years.
The Council appealed the decision to the Labour Court which also found in Christy’s favour. However, only after several other delays and further appeals have the Council finally concluded they will have to pay Christy and several of his colleagues in line with the Labour Court ruling.
Christy’s pension will now be worth more than €160 more per fortnight and the Council has further accepted it most provide him with a lump sum of approximately €20,000 to cover years of underpayment.
SIPTU Organiser, Ger Kennedy, said: “This case directly effects approximately 20 other retired former workers in Limerick County Council and 17 others still working in the cleaning department.
“However, it is likely to have a beneficial impact for many others and I am already dealing with other cases for workers in Kerry and Tipperary Councils.”
