Successful bogus employment cases against RTÉ mount as it continues its fruitless appeals
Employee was ‘dragged through the harrowing process for nothing’
NEARLY 100 cases in which RTÉ workers missed out on pension entitlements and earnings due to wrongly being classed as selfemployed have been confirmed, paving the way for High Court action against the broadcaster.
The Department of Social Protection’s review of bogus self-employment at RTÉ has so far found that 93 workers should have been classed as employees under PRSI class A and not as independent contractors.
The national broadcaster has already spent €74,000 on appealing these decisions, with 31 appeals so far from RTÉ, a spokesman confirmed.
The department says 21 appeals have been processed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office so far. In all but one of those 21 cases, the original decision by the department’s Scope section, which deals with PRSI, was upheld.
One RTÉ worker whom the department ruled should have been classed as an employee – speaking to the Irish Daily Mail on condition of anonymity – said they were ‘dragged’ through a ‘harrowing’ appeals process at a personal cost of thousands of euros.
The Scope unit review is looking at 695 cases in RTÉ, with 138 decisions issued so far. In 93 of those cases, or 67% of the total, it found that the worker should have been treated as an employee. In only 45 cases has the worker been found
‘RTÉ didn’t bother sending anyone... just a lawyer’
to have been rightly classed as a selfemployed contractor.
The Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee has said that the liabilities for RTÉ could reach ‘tens of millions of euros’ once the PRSI, tax, and legal costs are taken into account.
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst last year said the broadcaster had set aside a sum of around €20million to cover the outstanding payments of employer’s PRSI.
The broadcaster said last year that €1.2million had been paid to Revenue in respect of 35 misclassified employees.
Asked why RTÉ is spending money on appeals when 20 of the 21 cases processed by the department have upheld the original decision, a spokesman said: ‘RTÉ is working hard to resolve the outstanding Scope cases and it remains a priority for the organisation. Any appeal is on the basis that there has potentially been a mistake made in process or law. We can’t comment further on the details of an ongoing process.’
Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, who has questioned RTÉ about the matter at the Oireachtas Media Committee, said that the broadcaster ‘continues to be in denial mode about the bogus self-employment issue. Meanwhile, their stance is causing undue hardship and stress for their workers.’
He continued: ‘The Social Protection Appeals Office is simultaneously allowing itself to be used as a pawn in all of this, dragging out the process, placing additional burden on another arm of the State by facilitating lengthy appeals without adequate scrutiny regarding the merits of seeking an appeal in the first place.’
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, the RTÉ worker said the decision from the Scope unit was that they should have been an employee, but RTÉ appealed this ruling, which was defeated. Still, they were forced to pay €2,000 for their legal representation
The worker said the hearing lasted more than three hours.
‘I was obliged to show up, but RTÉ didn’t even bother sending a representative. It was just a lawyer from Arthur Cox there,’ they said.
‘I was one person and RTÉ were represented by one of the top firms in the country. I eventually had to get a solicitor and barrister at a cost of €2,000.’
A record of the hearing, seen by the Irish Daily Mail, show that appeals officials said: ‘The elephant in the room is the grounds for appeal but RTÉ has not advanced any argument or evidence to support the issues outlined in the original letter of appeal.’
The original Scope decision was maintained.
‘I was dragged through all of that for nothing. It was harrowing and quite gruelling for someone who is not used to it. You feel like the culprit, and you’ve done nothing wrong.’
After the decision was upheld, the worker asked RTÉ – through their solicitor – for their contract to be backdated to when they first started work, but on behalf of RTÉ, Arthur Cox solicitors said that they would ‘vigorously defend’ their client on any claim. The worker estimates they are entitled to €100,000 in lost pension contributions, holiday pay and sick pay for the six years they were a contractor.
But their only path for compensation is to take a costly action in the High Court.
‘My pension is not a lot to ask for, over six-and-a-half years, if you consider the amounts paid in exit packages to the executives.’
A department spokeswoman said: ‘There is no statutory time limit on employment status reviews. An individual may seek an employment status decision from Scope section at any time.’