AN ADMINISTRATOR WITHIN the HSE who was deemed to be ineligible for a once-off payment in special recognition of frontline workers during the Covid pandemic has won her case to claim the payment.

The dispute was referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) last August and heard remotely on 6 December last.

The case related to an Executive Registrar with the Civil Registration Service who is employed by the HSE.

Her role entails oversight of the registration of births, deaths and marriages and the conduct of civil marriage ceremonies. 

She had applied for but was deemed ineligible for the Pandemic Special Recognition Payment.

This was a €1,000 payment made to HSE employees who worked in a “Covid-19 exposed environment” during 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2021.

In an FAQ on the payment, it was noted that “general examples of healthcare workers that will benefit” included “administration staff that meet the criteria” such as those working in an Emergency Department Reception or Outpatient Department staff.

However, it was noted that “this list is not exhaustive”.

In her case to the HSE, the employee said she was “required to remain in her Office and have face-to-face contact with the public throughout the pandemic”, and that this was initially done without PPE.

And while emergency measures enacted on 27 March 2020 enabled the public to register births and deaths without the requirement to attend in person, the employee had to provide face-to-face registration services until that date.

She was also required to conduct marriage ceremonies in person both in the Registrar’s Office and in hotels during 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2021.

While the employee was deemed eligible for the payment by the Head of Department, she was later informed by the Office of the General Manager advised that her application had been rejected without providing any reasons.

An appeal was not upheld and a Dispute Resolution Committee said that no further appeal was possible.

This was said to have come as a “slap in the face” because counterparts in other areas in identical circumstances had received the payment.

In later exchanges, the Dispute Resolution Committee reiterated that the decision to deny the payment was “final and binding”.

In its communications with the WRC, the HSE said HR Management “did not deem Civil Registration services a Covid exposed environment or a clinical setting”.

It also contended that HR Management had properly followed the guidance documentation and noted that the decision was independently upheld by the Dispute Resolution Committee.

The HSE acknowledged that groups of “deserving employees” had been deemed ineligible and this was “no reflection” on the value of their work during the pandemic.

While the WRC noted that it was “difficult” to “draw the line between those eligible and ineligible” for the payment, it added that the worker was “deemed to have worked in an environment warranting such inclusion” in the payment scheme.

The WRC also acknowledged that while it may not have been “practically possible” to offer reasons for a refusal to grant the payment, there is a “general obligation” to assist people in “understanding the basis for the decision and to enable an appeal body to scrutinise” the decision.

In this case, no reasoning for refusal had been provided to the employee until referral to the WRC.

The WRC recommended that as a “way forward to resolution” the €1,000 payment should be made.