REMOTE shepherds are to receive thousands of pounds in compensation after being underpaid for years by a co-operative sheep stock club they worked for.
The Keoldale Sheep Stock Club at Durness, Sutherland, had been under investigation by the Scottish Government’s agricultural wages enforcement team.
Investigators have now found a “shortfall in pay in relation to hours worked” and the club was ordered to pay it out in full.
The club’s two full-time employees have both been in post for about 20 years and look after a 4,000-strong flock with the help of a part-time shepherdess. An apprentice has recently been taken on.
The two workers both run their own flocks of about 40 sheep, traditionally considered a perk of the post, which some club members thought formed part of their wages.
But one of the employees decided about two years ago to challenge his conditions of employment. It is understood his unhappiness extended not just to his hourly wage but also to overtime, holiday pay and sick pay.
It is understood the club had not been paying the minimum wage for agricultural workers, which was raised in October last year to £7.24 an hour for workers employed for more than 26 weeks by the same employer.
It is not known if the part-time shepherdess was included in the investigation.
It is understood that the group is having to hand over about £50,000 in lost salary over a four-year period and that as a result, its shareholders will not be receiving their annual £500 dividend this year.
David Morrison was appointed on to the club’s management committee at its AGM last month.
He said: “It was a bit of a misunderstanding and it has all been sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Sheep stock clubs were set up after the Second World War, with the aim of encouraging crofters who had left their native parishes for military service to return.
A number of crofters local to an area banded together to form a co-operative in order to run large flocks of sheep on hill ground.
Keoldale Sheep Stock Club originally had 42 shareholders but over time the individual shares, which stay with the person rather than the agricultural holding, have been sold on and now the majority of the shareholders live outwith Durness.
The workers involved in the dispute and also office bearers from the club were asked for their views. The only response received was from one of the employees, who said he did not wish to comment.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “A complaint against Keoldale Sheep Stock Club, Durness, was received under the terms of the Agricultural Wages Order and investigated in full by an agricultural wages inspector.
“This resulted in the discovery of a shortfall in pay relative to the hours worked by employees. The relevant action was taken by staff from Scottish Government’s agricultural wages team and the Keoldale Stock Club has now reimbursed the employees in full.
“The case is now closed.”
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