Wages dropped to entry level after turning 65 - public sector

Captain Flaps

Hi, apologies for the long post below,

My mother works in catering in a large regional hospital and turned 65 literally days before the public service superannuation (age of retirement) bill was signed into law on the 26th December 2018 - this allows public sector workers to continue working past 65 if they choose to. She was only presented with the new contract on her birthday a few days before the 26th and she subsequently found that her pay had been slashed by over 600 euro a month and she'd been dropped down to effectively an entry level pay grade. Had her birthday fallen after the 26th December her level of pay would have been protected by law, but she's in a weird limbo where she fell through the cracks.

She's been told off the record by a third party that other people in the same situation have successfully managed to appeal this decision regain the same level of pay as they were on before turning 65 but she has been told by her boss that without a specific name/case to refer to they won't budge. She was told that she could either sign the new contract or she was out. We're hoping to find another public sector worker who might have been through this to speak with us so we can get her back onto her original pay!

She is all alone and will struggle to afford mortgage payments, she needs this to bridge the gap until she reaches retirement age in December of this year. I have probably left out details here but if there are queries I will do my best to be more thorough.

Caranica

Contact a local td. This can be sorted

Cushie Butterfield

Is she a trade union member?
If so her union rep is the person she needs to talk to ASAP.

OMM 0000

This seems unnecessarily cruel. It's the public sector and I think everyone in Ireland would agree your mother should be cut some slack and given the higher rate.

I also think the trade union / local TD is the way to go. She could even consider Joe Duffy to make some noise.

Simple_Simone

If her 65th birthday was before the legislation was signed into law, then presumably it doesn't cover her. Furthermore, she would have had an employment contract that (presumably) stipulated a retirement age of 65. In which case, her employers could argue that they are doing her a favour () by allowing her to continue working after her 65th birthday and are paying her the same wage that a new recruit would be entitled to.

That said, have a look at SARAH's case in this link: https://www.ihrec.ie/our-work/legal-activity/retirement-and-fixed-term-contracts-guidelines/ maybe the IHREC can help your mum.

Captain Flaps

Thanks for the replies so far. Her particular trade union rep is somebody she feels she can't go to for a variety of reasons and she's not sure what the procedure is with regards to going over that person's head?

We've definitely discussed Joe Duffy and I'm looking into which TD might be worth contacting.

@Simple Simone, you're correct and we've discussed the possibility that there's a tough **** element to this because of how her birthday fell. I will definitely contact IHREC because Sarah's case is pretty much spot on for this situation.

I also just want to highlight to all that she's not a highly paid civil servant, she's in what would be considered a menial 'support' job and her full wage at 65 is well below the average industrial wage, I really appreciate the supportive words.

LegacyUser

Sounds like your mother availed of 'retention' for 1 year. Did she get paid her lump sum on her 65th birthday?

Cushie Butterfield

Captain Flaps wrote:

Her particular trade union rep is somebody she feels she can't go to for a variety of reasons and she's not sure what the procedure is with regards to going over that person's head

That shouldn’t be a problem. The chances are that a local rep would be passing it up the line anyway. Get her to contact the union’s head office directly. She can say she doesn’t feel comfortable dealing with her local rep & would prefer to deal with someone else.

shar01

But to stay on under the interim arrangements (between Dec 17 and Dec 18) you mother had to apply for an extension. Did she apply? If she did then she knows she goes onto the minimum point of scale.

Yes, it is unfortunate that she was 65 just before the Act was signed.

To elaborate - the interim arrangements issued in late 2017.

Did she get her lump sum on turning 65? Is she getting her hospital pension as well as her min of scale?

Sorry for all the questions.