RAILWAYS (EXISTING OFFICERS AND SERVANTS) ACT, 1926

AN ACT TO MAKE BETTER PROVISION FOR THE COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS AND SERVANTS OF RAILWAY COMPANIES WHO LOSE THEIR EMPLOYMENT OR SUFFER OTHER LOSS OR HARDSHIP IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE AMALGAMATION AND ABSORPTION OF RAILWAY COMPANIES EFFECTED BY OR UNDER THE RAILWAYS ACT, 1924, AND FOR THAT PURPOSE TO AMEND THE THIRD SCHEDULE TO THAT ACT. [25th June, 1926.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Railways Act, 1924 (No. 29 of 1924), and all words and expressions used in this Act which are also used in the Third Schedule to the Principal Act shall respectively have the same meaning in this Act as they have in the Principal Act.

2 Gratuities to certain officers and servants of the amalgamated company.

2.—(1) Every officer and every servant of the amalgamated company who if he had not become such officer or servant would have been entitled to a gratuity under the first paragraph of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act shall, if his services are dispensed with by the amalgamated company within seven years after the passing of the Principal Act and whether before or after the passing of this Act on account of his services having become unnecessary in consequence of changes of administration due directly to the amalgamation and absorption of companies effected by or under the Principal Act and not shown by the amalgamated company to have been caused by decrease of traffic, reduction of renewal or maintenance work, introduction of improved methods of working (other than methods which would not have been feasible for the amalgamating or absorbed company by which the officer or servant was formerly employed), or other economic cause, be entitled to be paid by the amalgamated company a gratuity calculated on the basis of one-sixth of the amount of his annual salary and emoluments for every completed year of his service.

• (2) If any dispute or question shall arise between the amalgamated company and any officer or servant of the amalgamated company on any matter arising under this section, such officer or servant may appeal to the standing arbitrator or board of arbitrators mentioned in paragraph (8) of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act and that paragraph shall apply to any such appeal in like manner as it applies to the appeals mentioned therein.

• (3) In this section the word “service” does not include any period of service as a trade apprentice with any amalgamating or absorbed company.

• (4) For the purposes of this section the annual salary and emoluments of an officer or servant shall be calculated at the rate of the salary or emoluments of which he is in receipt immediately before his services are dispensed with and his service shall include his service with the amalgamating or absorbed company of which he was formerly an officer or servant as well as his service with the amalgamated company.

• (5) In this section references to officers of the amalgamated company and references to servants of the amalgamated company respectively include officers of the amalgamated company and servants of the amalgamated company who have before the passing of this Act ceased to be in the service of the amalgamated company as well as such officers and servants who are still in the service of the amalgamated company at the passing of this Act.

• (6) In this section the expression “the first paragraph of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act” means the paragraph at the beginning of that Schedule which commences with the words “Every person who” and ends with the words “completed year of his service.”

3 Deletion of paragraph (4) of Third Schedule to Principal Act.

3.—The Third Schedule to the Principal Act shall be construed and have effect as if the paragraph numbered “(4)” now contained therein were omitted therefrom.

4 Amendments in respect of compensation by way of annual allowance.

4.—The said Third Schedule to the Principal Act shall be construed and have effect as if the paragraph thereof numbered “(5)” were amended as follows, that is to say:—

• (a) by the deletion of the first clause thereof, which clause begins with the words “Every existing officer or servant” and ends with the words “that is to say,” and the deletion of sub-paragraph (a) thereof and the insertion of the following clause and four sub-paragraphs in lieu of the clause and sub-paragraph so deleted, that is to say:—

Every existing officer or servant who under paragraph (2) of this Schedule relinquishes his office or situation within seven years after the passing of the Principal Act and every existing officer or servant whose office or situation is abolished under the said paragraph (2) within such seven years on account of his office or situation having become unnecessary in consequence of changes of administration due directly to the amalgamation and absorption of companies effected by or under the Principal Act and not shown by the amalgamated company to have been caused by decrease of traffic, reduction of renewal or maintenance work, introduction of improved methods of working (other than methods which would not have been feasible for the amalgamating or absorbed company by which the officer or servant was formerly employed) or other economic cause or whose services are dispensed with within such seven years on account of such services having become unnecessary in consequence of such changes of administration as aforesaid, or whose remuneration or emoluments are reduced within such seven years on the ground that his duties have been diminished in consequence of such changes of administration as aforesaid or who otherwise suffers within such seven years any direct pecuniary loss by reason of such changes of administration as aforesaid (including any loss of prospective superannuation or other retiring or death allowances and allowances to his widow or orphan children whether obtaining legally or by customary practice of the amalgamating or absorbed company) shall be entitled to be paid compensation by the amalgamated company, the amount of such compensation to be determined and paid by the amalgamated company

(subject to appeal as hereinafter provided) in accordance with the following rules, that is to say:—

• (aa) in the case of an existing officer or servant who relinquishes his office or situation or whose office or situation is abolished or whose services are dispensed with as aforesaid the compensation shall be an annual allowance to be paid to him during his life not exceeding in any case two-thirds of his remuneration and emoluments, and, subject to that limitation and to the provisions of sub-paragraph (d) hereof, to be calculated at the rate of one-sixtieth of his remuneration and emoluments for every completed year of his service with the amalgamated company or any amalgamating or absorbed company, with an addition thereto based on the number of completed years of his service and calculated according to the following scale:—

if he has twenty or more completed years of service, an addition of ten-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments,

if he has fifteen or more completed years of service and less than twenty such years, an addition of seven-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments,

if he has ten or more completed years of service and less than fifteen such years, an addition of five-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments,

if he has five or more completed years of service and less than ten such years, an addition of three-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments:

• (ab) in any other case the compensation shall be a lump sum, but if an appeal is taken to the standing arbitrator or arbitrators such arbitrator or arbitrators may if he or they so think fit on the hearing of such appeal, award as compensation (in lieu of a lump sum) an annual allowance to be paid to the existing officer or servant during his life, not exceeding in any case two-thirds of his remuneration and emoluments and, subject to that over-riding limitation, not exceeding an annual sum calculated at the rate of one-sixtieth of his remuneration and emoluments for every completed year of his service with the amalgamated company or any amalgamating or absorbed company:

• (ac) in fixing the nature and amount of compensation to be awarded in cases within the foregoing sub-paragraph (ab) all the circumstances of the case shall be taken into consideration and in particular due consideration shall be given to any such loss of prospective superannuation or other retiring or death allowance as aforesaid:

• (ad) in the case of an existing officer or servant who has served as a trade apprentice with any amalgamating or absorbed company, the period of such apprenticeship shall not for the purpose of this paragraph be reckoned as service with such amalgamating or absorbed company:

and

• (b) by the deletion of sub-paragraph (b) thereof and the insertion of the following sub-paragraph in lieu of the sub-paragraph so deleted, that is to say:—

• (b) (i) where any existing officer or servant was temporarily absent from his employment as such officer or servant and during the whole of such absence was engaged in service in the National Forces of Saorstát Eireann, or any military forces serving under the authority of the First Dáil Eireann, the Second Dáil Eireann, or the Provisional Government of Ireland, or the British Army, Navy or Air Force, such temporary absence shall for the purposes of this Schedule be reckoned and included in his period of service as such officer or servant;

• (ii) without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding clause numbered (b) (i) where any existing officer or servant was absent from his employment as such officer or servant for a period of less than one year on account of the closing or partial closing of a branch or department of any amalgamating or absorbed company in consequence of civil strife in the years 1922, or 1923, such absence shall not be deemed to have caused an interruption of his service if otherwise continuous as such officer or servant, but the period of such absence shall not be included in his service as such officer or servant unless he was engaged during such period of absence in service in the National Forces of Saorstát Eireann:

and

• (c) by the deletion of sub-paragraph (d) thereof and the insertion of the following sub-paragraph in lieu of the sub-paragraph so deleted, that is to say:—

• (d) whenever the compensation fixed by or under any of the foregoing sub-paragraphs is an annual allowance and the officer or servant is entitled to benefits by way of superannuation payable out of any contributory superannuation or benefit fund to which an amalgamating or absorbed company or the amalgamated company contributed or contributes, such annual allowance shall notwithstanding anything contained in any of the foregoing sub-paragraphs be the difference between the amount of the annual allowance which would be payable if the officer or servant was not entitled to any such benefits and the annual amount or annual value of such benefits and the officer or servant shall in addition be paid by the amalgamated company a lump sum equal to the total amount of the contributions paid at any time by the officer or servant to the Superannuation or Benefit Fund.

5 Consequential amendment of amalgamation and absorption schemes.

5.—Every amalgamation scheme and every absorption scheme shall, if and so far as it incorporates or depends on the Third Schedule to the Principal Act, be construed and take effect as if the schedule so incorporated or referred to was that schedule as amended by this Act.

6 Exemption from stamp duty.

6.—No stamp duty shall be payable in respect of any agreement heretofore made under the Third Schedule to the Principal Act or hereafter to be made under the said Third Schedule as amended by this Act or under this Act between the amalgamated company and any existing officer or servant or any other officer or servant of the amalgamated company nor in respect of any award heretofore made by the standing arbitrator under the said Third Schedule or hereafter to be made by the standing arbitrator or arbitrators under the said Third Schedule as amended by this Act or under this Act.

7 Application of Act.

7.—The Third Schedule to the Principal Act as amended by this Act shall govern every claim for compensation under the said Third Schedule in respect of which the amount of the compensation was not fixed by agreement made or decision of the standing arbitrator pronounced before the 26th day of March, 1926.

8 Powers of Arbitrator.

8.—(1) The standing arbitrator or board of arbitrators shall have power to administer oaths, and to award costs in his or their discretion and direct to and by whom and in what manner these costs or any part thereof shall be paid, and to measure the amount of such costs and to require security for costs to be given to his or their satisfaction by any party at any stage of the proceedings before him or them.

• (2) The standing arbitrator or board of arbitrators shall have the like powers of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents as are possessed by the High Court.

• (3) The standing arbitrator or board of arbitrators may at any time correct any clerical mistake or error in an award arising from any accidental slip or omission.

• (4) Any sum payable under an award made by the standing arbitrator or arbitrators shall be a simple contract debt recoverable by action at law.

• (5) It shall be lawful for the standing arbitrator or board of arbitrators, if so requested by either party to an appeal, to hear such appeal in open court.

9 Short title and construction.

9.—This Act may be cited as the Railways (Existing Officers and Servants) Act, 1926 and shall be construed as one with the Principal Act, and that Act and this Act may be cited together as the Railways Acts, 1924 and 1926.