Councils entitled to enforce firefighter retirement ages – Labour Court

A member of a retained fire service has had an award of €15,000 for age discrimination overturned as the rule requiring him to leave his role at 60 was deemed “appropriate and necessary”.Paul Curran had been a member of the Carlow County Council’s fire service for almost 40 years, Siptu told the Labour Court. Curran had been involved in numerous life-saving, firefighting and rescue situations, the court heard.Since 1980 the regulations for retained fire service – the part-time services run by county councils outside of Dublin – were that upon reaching 55 members would be obliged to retire. From 2003, an individual’s service could be extended to 58 based on their ability to pass medical and fitness tests. This higher limit was increased to 60 in 2020 and 62 in May 2024.READ MORECurran turned 60 in December 2023, four months after talks between unions and councils had paved the way for the increased retirement age of 62 but six months before it had been implemented by Government.The council said the agreement reached in August had been to the effect the unions would push for the increase and the employers would not oppose it. In the meantime, it argued, it was bound by the existing regulations and therefore had no choice but to force Curran to retire.The court rejected the union’s claim that the action had not been objectively justified and took into account that Curran also held a full-time post with the council from which he was not obliged to retire aged 60. This, it held, meant he was not subject to undue financial hardship.It overturned a decision of Workplace Relations Commission to award Curran €15,000 for age discrimination under the Equality Acts.[ Dublin care workers’ strike ends after Labour Court recommends letting pay review proceedOpens in new window ]Separately, a Kildare County Council firefighter who said he had to change jobs and take a €28,000 pay cut in order to remain in work beyond 60 has lost his claim for constructive dismissal at the Labour Court.Paul O’Dwyer had joined the retained fire service in 1988 when his contract of employment made it clear the mandatory retirement age for firefighters at that time was 55. For station and substation officers, however, there was the potential to be permitted to work on to 65 at the discretion of the county’s chief fire officer.The HR manager he dealt with at the time, he said, had assured him that if he reached the grade of station or substation officer by the time he was 55, he would be allowed to work until 65.O’Dwyer turned 55 in September 2017 and then continued on in his position on fixed-term contracts until he was approaching 60, after which, the council said, no further extensions were possible.Faced with the prospect of being left with no work at 60, he began to apply for other posts within the council, and in mid-2022 he secured a job in the library service.It involved taking a cut in pay from €65,000 to €37,000, but he resigned from his position in the fire service and took up his new role.In the WRC, and then on appeal in the Labour Court, where he too was represented by Siptu, he argued the council had been guilty of breach of contract due to the assurances he had been given about the potential to work to 65 in the event he was promoted.The court, however, found that the terms of his original contract were “unambiguous” in relation to a retirement age of 55 and extensions being discretionary. “The fallacy in the complainant’s submission to the court lies in his belief that his 1988 contract of employment provides for a retirement age of 65,” said the court in a decision signed by its deputy chair, Alan Haugh.