Staff at Permanent TSB have failed in a bid to be paid a bonus they say they were entitled to three years ago, writes Gavin Daly.
The 64 administration staff in PTSB’s finance unit argued they were paid just 25% of their performance-related bonus for 2008, while sales staff and management got their full bonus for the year.
The issue was referred to the Labour Court after attempts to resolve it through conciliation at the Labour Relations Commission failed.
The court heard the PTSB sales staff and some managers were paid their bonuses at the end of each quarter, while administration bonuses were calculated at the year-end and paid the following March.
When cost-cutting and a pay freeze were introduced across the Irish Life & Permanent group in 2009, the administration staff lost 75% of their bonus.
Advertisement
PTSB management said the reduced payment was “a matter of timing”. They said it was unsustainable to pay the bonuses because of the bank’s “current financial difficulties” and Department of Finance restrictions on paying bonuses.
After a hearing on January 19, the Labour Court said that the payment of the bonuses was prohibited by the “placing agreement” introduced by the minister for finance last year, “no matter when such bonuses were earned”. As a result, it could not recommend PTSB staff be paid the full bonus.
The PTSB workers were represented by Unite, which also represents Educational Building Society (EBS) staff, who took industrial action after being told they would not be paid a “13th month” payment in December.
Last month, the EBS workers agreed to accept a compromise, which involves staff getting half the 13th month payment and EBS paying €4.8m into the staff pension fund.