In 2008, the Labour Court recommended that the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union accept Wexford Creamery's once-off €500 offer for relevant employees. The recommendation was signed on 31 March 2008. The union sought a 26-week top-up between State maternity benefit and normal pay. The company said it could not afford increased costs. The Court said the union had not shown the benefit was a norm in comparable employments or that the claim had merit on fair comparison; it backed the company's offer, backdated by three years from the conciliation conference.