Op/Ed: Contradictions In Labour Court Ruling

Horses headed to the gallops at Ballydoyle | Emma Berry

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Recent months have seen a high-profile case play out in the Labour Court in Ireland in which the Ballydoyle Racing operation headed up by Aidan O'Brien appealed against compliance notices issued to them by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) over their failure to give grooms and work riders rest periods that the WRC believe that they were legally entitled to.

The origins of the issues that the case concerned can be traced to amendments made to the Workplace Relations Act in 2015 that, seemingly unbeknownst to anyone in the Irish racing industry, changed the rules to exclude racing industry employees from being considered as being engaged in agricultural work. This meant that stricter regulations would apply to working hours in that pursuit. When Ballydoyle was inspected by the WRC in May 2016, it was found that a number of staff were working hours and days that infringed on the Working Time Act.

While there has been and will continue to be a debate as to the rights, the wrongs and the serious implications for the Irish horse racing industry of this ruling, it has seemingly yet to be highlighted that the Labour Court's ruling appears to represent a clear contradiction of the government's interpretation of other laws in this sector.

Regular readers of this space may recall my recent article about how the medication rules in Ireland are causing major problems for equine veterinarians (click here). The main issue discussed in that piece was that the fact that horses are legally classed as food animals in Ireland results in very strict restrictions on what medications they can be given, with many routine medications that are readily available in Great Britain and Northern Ireland not being permitted for use in Ireland.

Yet, while the government are saying on one hand that horses are food animals and are aggressively enforcing that status via prosecutions of equine vets that transgress the strict medication rules, this Labour Court ruling seems to hold a very clear view that the people that work with those same food animals in racing yards are not classed as agriculture workers. That seems to be a blatant contradiction.

Ballydoyle now have the option of appealing the Labour Court's decision to the High Court. Given the aforementioned apparent contradiction in the ruling and other arguments against it, that is an option they are likely to exercise.

While the media have portrayed this case as purely Ballydoyle versus the Labour Court, there is no doubt whatsoever that it will have far greater implications for the smaller equine operators in this country that are run on shoestring budgets than it will for Ballydoyle. It is these smaller operators that are the foundation stones of an industry that is one of this country's greatest rural success stories. With there already being a staffing crisis in horse racing in Ireland, this ruling has the potential to put some of these operations out of business, as many simply cannot afford to employ more staff to comply with a law that doesn't seem to be fit for purpose.

No one gets themselves into a career working with animals thinking that it will be a nine-to-five endeavour. All animals and thoroughbred racehorses in particular have needs that do not conform to what would be considered a normal working day. Sometimes the people that care for them will voluntarily go above and beyond what would be expected from them in other sectors in the best interests of the wellbeing of the animals in their care. For this to be accepted as a lawful reality in all agricultural pursuits bar horse racing in which the animals involved are more high maintenance than in any other animal-focused endeavour seems to fly in the face of common sense.

One can only hope that the High Court fully consider the wider implications of its judgement before passing it.

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