The Labour Court held its hearing on the issue of the exclusion of health and social care professionals (HSCPs) from access to competitions for supplementary panels last week. The issue has affected a significant number of Fórsa members in recent years, and has been part of a WRC (Workplace Relations Commission) process since 2019.
Fórsa assistant general secretary Catherine Keogh said the issue affected occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists and speech and language therapists, who were excluded from recruitment competitions for which they were eligible.
“The HSE operates a national panel system of recruitment to fill HSCP vacancies, running large scale national recruitment competitions that result in the establishment of panels for each grade, from which successful candidates are appointed.
The system is cumbersome, unfair and unfit for purpose, requiring the creation of supplementary panels, and failing to address the high number of vacancies reported across all professions.
“The panels have a lifespan of a year with the possibility of extending to three. But the system is cumbersome, unfair and unfit for purpose, requiring the creation of supplementary panels, and failing to address the high number of vacancies reported across all professions.
“This situation is also complicated by the absence of a national transfer policy within the HSE, which clogs up the recruitment system with internal applications for posts in other areas, as time is spent authenticating candidates that are already current employees,” she said.
Catherine explained that the HSE, in 2019, made a unilateral decision to disband the 2016 senior physiotherapist panel and run a new national campaign.
Our members were misled by the HSE, informed that they were not eligible to apply for the supplementary panel competition and the HSE have since conceded this to the union and to the WRC.
“Fórsa members had a reasonable expectation to be appointed during the lifetime of the appropriate primary panel. A supplementary panel can only co-exist with the panel it was established to supplement, but instead our members were misled by the HSE, informed that they were not eligible to apply for the supplementary panel competition and the HSE have since conceded this to the union and to the WRC,” she said.
Catherine said Fórsa has argued to the court that it’s not reasonable or acceptable that the HSE can admit to wrongdoing that has materially affected members’ career development, promotional opportunities, their ability to earn, including pension entitlements, and then refuse to engage in restitution.
“The union has made its case that the HSE should either reinstate the primary panels or provide appropriate financial compensation to our members,” she said.
A recommendation from the court is expected within four to six weeks.
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