RTÉ to appeal misclassified worker rulings delaying cases by six months

While RTÉ has committed to reimbursing four years' retrospective social insurance contributions denied to its misclassified workers, it has not committed to back-paying pension payments and holiday entitlements.

RTÉ is to appeal a number of decisions by the Department of Social Protection asserting that employees should not have been labelled as self-employed.

The broadcaster has written to the employees concerned – in correspondence seen by the Irish Examiner – via its legal representatives, solicitors firm Arthur Cox, to say that the Department’s decision that the workers in question had been misclassified for an extended period of time, or bogus self-employed, will be taken to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO).

While numerous headings are given in that legal correspondence under which the appeal will be fought, no specific reasons for the appeal have been given.

It’s understood that the employees in question were not part of a review of employee classifications in RTÉ carried out by consultants Eversheds Sutherland in 2018, but had nonetheless received a favourable decision as part of the Department’s review of the broadcaster’s freelance contractors’ conditions.

That review, conducted by the Department's Employment Status Investigation Unit (ESIU), was triggered after the Eversheds project found that the jobs of more than 150 RTÉ freelancers displayed “attributes akin to employment”, with full-time contracts eventually being offered to 82 of those workers.

Bogus self-employment sees people who are, to all intents and purposes, fully employed by a body but denied the statutory social insurance contributions that PAYE workers receive.

While RTÉ has committed to reimbursing four years' retrospective social insurance contributions denied to its misclassified workers, it has not committed to back-paying pension payments and holiday entitlements.

The scope of the ESIU review is significantly wider than that of Eversheds, dealing with more than 500 employees, and is not time-limited.

An appeal to the SWAO will delay any such case by a minimum of six months. While the appeal has been triggered by RTÉ, the employees in question would be expected to provide their own legal representation, if any, for the hearing itself. 

When asked to comment, a spokesperson for RTE said: "This process is ongoing. RTÉ has no comment at this time."

John McKeon, the secretary-general of the Department of Social Protection, has previously stated that the ESIU investigation at RTÉ is not likely to conclude before 2023, adding it has received “good co-operation" from RTE.