A number of long-serving employees of Irish Life Assurance plc have objected at the High Court to the proposed transfer of the company's Industrial Assurance Business to Royal Liver Assurance Limited, due to come into effect on February 28th.
The transfer is subject to court approval. Counsel for Irish Life pressed for that approval yesterday but Mr Justice Kearns deferred the matter to Monday next, saying he wanted clarification on a number of issues.
One employee told the court that information he had obtained appeared to indicate the transfer would not be to the benefit of policyholders. He said Irish Life was transferring more than €494.5 million but Royal Liver had stated in January last the transaction would add an estimated €300 million to Royal Liver's funds.
The employee, who is a Home Service Representative with Irish Life, said Royal Liver had pulled out of the home service business in England and he believed there would be less of a fund to be distributed to Irish policyholders after the transfer. He said all of the fund should be transferred in order to protect Irish Life policyholders.
Mr Justice Kearns was told by several employees they had endured muggings and violent assaults over their lengthy service with Irish Life, which had led to some taking sick leave and one man spending three years in a psychiatric hospital, only to be told now they had a choice between taking up unsuitable jobs, for which they were not trained, face dismissal, or take up inadequate severance and early retirement packages.
The employees also complained they had received none or no adequate notice of the proposed transfer. A number said they had received notification only on February 12th last and had until February 28th to decide what they would do. They said they had insufficient information about a variety of matters, including what would happen to their pensions, benefits and other entitlements. Another man said he was 54 years old and, should he leave, would be entitled to a pension of only €8,380 a year. If he stayed with Irish Life and took up the alternative position being offered, he knew he would not meet the criteria for that post. "I'm not technically minded, I know I'm going to be put out by disciplinary procedures," he said. "Where do I go from here?" He said the employees were getting information "only by the drip" and that the Personal Financial Advisers in the industrial division were very badly affected by the proposed transfer.
Irish Life's application for approval of the proposed transfer initially came before the court last Monday but was adjourned until yesterday after concerns were expressed by the employees. Yesterday, after hearing the company's response to those concerns and submissions from Mr Donal O Laoire, for three employees, and from a number of individual employees themselves, the judge again adjourned the matter to Monday.
He said he wanted clarification as to the position of the trade unions MSF and SIPTU, which represent most of an estimated 130 employees affected by the proposed transfer, on the proposal. He said there was a conflict of evidence about the unions' position.
Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for Irish Life, said he understood MSF supported the proposed transfer while SIPTU was not opposed to it. He was unaware of any decision by SIPTU on Thursday to oppose the proposed transfer. In any event, he argued, whether the unions supported the proposal or not was not a matter for the court to take into account.
Counsel also argued Irish Life had complied with regulations in relation to the transfer of business. It was an "unfortunate but inevitable" aspect of the transfer of a business that employees would be affected but the court had no function in determining the position of employees, he added.
Mr Gallagher said only a number of employees opposed the transfer and there had been no objections of substance from customers or policyholders. Mr Gallagher also read an affidavit from Mr Sean Brennan, Human Resources Manager with Irish Life, who detailed a series of meetings and contacts which Mr Brennan said had been made with affected employees and their trade unions concerning the propsoed transfer.
Mr Brennan said MSF represented 97 employees and had approved the transfer, SIPTU represented 16 employees and other employees were not represented by a trade union.
Mr O Laoire read affidavits from his clients which, counsel said, directly contradicted Mr Brennan's assertions in relation to what notice was given to them. Counsel said his clients had not been given written notice of the proposed transfer until they received letters on February 12th last. His clients were not aware of the substance of the transfer and their terms and conditions of employment were being altered.
