ESB worker too late to pursue claim seeking €42,000 in alleged unpaid overtime, WRC rule

An ESB worker has been denied the right to pursue a pay claim seeking €42,000 in alleged unpaid overtime, according to a ruling by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Training officer Peter Lavelle, who worked for ESB Networks DAC, was found to have missed the deadline to challenge a 2023 pay policy change that affected overtime payments for travel time. The WRC ruled that Lavelle's complaint, filed in July 2025, was outside the statutory time limit and thus beyond the commission’s jurisdiction. Lavelle, a network engineer based in Wilton, Cork City, was promoted in 2022 to a role at a training center in Portlaoise. For his first two years in the position, he received overtime for travel to Portlaoise and other training locations, with management approval. Historically, any travel away from his usual workplace was considered overtime. This changed in November 2023, when ESB decided to stop paying overtime for travel time and introduced changes to subsistence arrangements. Lavelle claimed that this decision left him short by €42,000 between November 2023 and July 2025. He described the travel as “not a commute, but a business journey,” noting that he often set off from home at 6 a.m. and returned late in the evening. According to Lavelle, the change significantly impacted his earnings, especially given the volume of travel required for his role. ESB employee relations officer Claire Purcell stated that the overtime payments for travel time had been an “incorrect practice.” She explained that the figures claimed by Lavelle were “exaggerated.” Purcell noted that Lavelle had received €5,927 for 116.5 hours of overtime and €26,048 in overnight allowances in 2022. In 2023, he was paid an additional €3,862 for 72 hours of overtime and €29,253 in overnight allowances. She emphasized that the overnight arrangements “significantly reduced” the need for travel, and that Lavelle continued to receive mileage expenses. Purcell also mentioned that a €5,000 annual allowance was granted to training officers in the spring of 2024, backdated to November 2023. She pointed out that the overtime payments during the period when they were being issued were “nowhere near the amount that we’re seeing here today.” During the hearing, Caroline Doyle, representing ESB’s legal department, argued that Lavelle’s complaint, filed in July 2025, was well outside the statutory time limit. Darren Erangey of the Connect trade union, representing Lavelle, countered that the breach was ongoing and should not have ended with the implementation of the new policy. Adjudication officer Thomas O’Driscoll ruled that the complaint was out of time and therefore outside his jurisdiction. He cited “clear and unambiguous evidence” from Keith Kavanagh, a technical training manager, that ESB made and communicated the decision to stop overtime for traveling in November 2023. O’Driscoll noted that ongoing alleged financial losses did not constitute a continuing breach and that Lavelle’s use of the internal grievance process could not extend the time limit. O’Driscoll concluded that Lavelle’s complaint was “well outside the statutory time limit,” even if an extension from six months to 12 months could be granted for reasonable circumstances. However, such justification was not established. The adjudication officer stated that the complaint was out of time and that he did not have jurisdiction to entertain it.