LAST UPDATE | 10 Jun 2025

SIPTU REPRESENTATIVES HAVE referred Dublin City Council to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) as a change in payroll systems is seeing its 3,500 workers lose out on a week’s wages from their pay packets next month, which the council says will eventually be paid in backpay. 

Dublin City Council informed unions last month that its current payroll systems will become unsupported next year, meaning that it has to take on a new system, with the transition creating a “once off three week gap between pay cheques”. 

The council is offering a bridging loan to employees who may suffer financial hardship as a result, which includes all waged council staff, the majority of Dublin Fire Brigade, and General Operations staff. 

The change means that workers will have to wait an extra week to get paid, while the pay for that week will be paid as back-pay.

For those who chose not to apply for the loan, which must be paid back in full through 23 fortnightly repayments, their wages will have an additional back week – meaning that it is to be paid in the future, or at the end of their employment. 

It means that their overtime will be paid a week later, a union representative has said. 

Unions have raised the disruption and financial stress this will place staff under, including firefighters who often work overtime. 

They are asking DCC to offer a compensatory payment to staff instead. 

SIPTU has told employees that it does not accept the explanation given by the council in relation to the need for the additional back week in their wages. 

In a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ document circulated amongst staff, the council explained that the new software suppliers for payroll systems “cannot provide the system support arrangements we have enjoyed for the past twenty years”. 

“In order to protect a timely pay day going forward, it is necessary to introduce a delay between the processing of pay and the transfer of monies to the banking system. Currently the wages payroll is processed on a Tuesday morning for transfer to the Council’s bank on Wednesday for payment on Thursday. the new software suppliers have confirmed that they cannot provide system support in this tight timeframe,” the council further said. 

It told workers it couldn’t opt for another supplier as PeopleXD (the selected supplier) have been chosen by the Local Government Management Authority. 

“Your pay will be delayed by one week as a one-off measure. You will then be paid fortnightly as normal after that,” the council said. 

It added that workers would not be losing any pay – rather their pay is being delayed by one week. 

A firefighter who spoke to The Journal said: “I’m years in the job and now I have to work another back week – it is bizarre. We’re effectively only getting paid for 51 weeks worth of wages this year, though we’ll work 52.” 

“There is no logic to what they are doing, when they could just add another week’s wages into the payment we are to receive after the three week period on the 31st of July. 

“If someone retires in 20 or 30 years, and they get paid that €1000, it’s going to be worth a lot less than it is now, and the loan only goes up to €800 euro, so there’s very little that makes sense about this,” he further said. 

The firefighter said that due to inflation, this move means that not only are the council saving “hundreds of thousands in wages now, but in the future they will be as well.” 

“It’s outrageous and they can’t be getting away with it, for a lot of people these are wages earned on long shifts in frontline emergency services, and it’s not right to be doing to people while the cost of living is the way it is,” he added. 

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: ”Dublin City Council is continuing to engage with employee representatives in relation to this matter and cannot make any further comment at this time.”