THE LABOUR Court has rejected a pay claim by non-consultant hospital doctors for increases of up to 40 per cent.
In a recommendation issued today, the Labour Court has also turned down proposals for an unsocial hours payment, the introduction of an annual operational allowance and compensation for loss of overtime earnings arising from the introduction of new limits on working hours. It has also recommended significant changes in the payment of allowances for non-consultant doctors.
However the Labour Court has also said the current overtime rate of time and a quarter should be increased to time and a half.
Earlier this year the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which represents the State’s 4,600 non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs), lodged a claim of between 25 and 40 per cent on the basis that their core salary for a 39-hour week had traditionally been suppressed due to access to large amounts of overtime.
However since last August the Health Service Executive (HSE) has been legally obliged under the terms of the European Working Time Directive to ensure that NCHDs do not work more than 48 hours a week.
The IMO said the money for the rises could come from the savings in the NCHD overtime bill which currently runs at about €250 million. The basic salaries of NCHDs now range from €35,000 for interns to €64,000-€81,000 for specialist registrars.
The HSE told the Labour Court that the IMO claims would cost more than €300 million a year.
In its recommendation, the Labour Court found that working hours for the purpose of calculating overtime should be averaged over a pay period in line with rosters. Some sources said last night this could mean that 78 hours worked in a week could be averaged over a fortnight to 39 hours basic per week rather than 39 hours basic and 39 overtime,
The recommendation also stated that the €17.7 million currently paid out in individualised training grants for NCHDs may be used by the HSE centrally to purchase training on behalf of these doctors. However the recommendation also said this should be subject to NCHDs having an appropriate level of autonomy in selection of and participation in training. The court said that qualification allowances for NCHDs should be discontinued.
The court also found that NCHDs required to be on call should be reimbursed for the cost of installation and rental of a landline telephone. It did not recommend any change in payments for on-call arrangements. It said the current living out allowance should be maintained at its present value but relocation expenses should be capped at €500.