The Government could face huge compensation claims from jobsharers in the Civil Service, who have been passed over for promotion since 1984 because they were not treated on an equal basis with full-time staff. Other public service employees are expected to make follow-on claims if civil servants sue successfully. Private-sector employers may also face compensation suits from workers who job-share.
The Attorney General has advised the Government to treat job-sharers and full-time staff equally with effect from October 2nd last year. This was the date of a major equality ruling by the European Court of Justice. In a case brought by a German civil servant, Ms Hellen Gerster, the court found that the practice of giving a job-sharer only six months' credit for each year of service when calculating seniority was discriminatory.
The Civil and Public Service Union, which represents most civil servants, has received legal advice from senior counsel that anyone passed over for promotion since 1984 because they were jobsharing has a claim. The CPSU general secretary, Mr Blair Horan, said yesterday that he was not surprised at the Government decision, but it had an obligation to vindicate the rights of everyone affected.
"The EU Treaty stipulates in very strong terms that there should be no discrimination whatsoever," he said. "The impact of the seniority rules in the past impacted almost exclusively on women, who comprise 98 per cent of job-sharers. It pushed them back down the promotion ladder because they took primary responsibility for the family and childcare."
At present, there are 2,400 civil servants on job-share, of whom 1,500 are CPSU members. About a third of clerical grade civil servants have job-shared at one time or another. The loss in earnings for people passed over for promotion would range from £500 a year to £4,000.
There are about 6,000 people on job-share across the public service. Only about 3 per cent of private sector workers job-share, but with one million people employed in this sector that would still represent 30,000. Not all would be eligible to claim compensation.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Finance said the Attorney General's advice was that public service claims should not be conceded before last October, but that it was accepted there might be claims made which date back much further.
"It's a lot like the Army deafness issue, until the unions come back to us, we can't begin to estimate the cost".
A complicating factor for the CPSU is that 3,300 promotions agreed under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work have been put on hold while the Government considered its position. The promotions will go ahead, but the people receiving them may be different from those originally designated.
Mr Horan said the union was meeting Department officials to see how best to resolve this problem. It is likely that the CPSU will seek to have all planned promotions maintained and seek additional promotions for job-sharers.
The union has been to the fore in pushing equality issues. It has taken a case to the European Court of Justice seeking full incremental credits for job-sharers. It recently won record awards of £100,000 each for women working in the Irish Aviation Authority. A further 60 women at the IAA are now making follow-on claims which will cost the State about £1.5 million.