Q. I have been working in a local shop since secondary school. I used to work weekends and some evenings. I’ve taken a break before going to college and had been working full time for the year or so. Things have changed over the last few weeks. I might get a full week of work, followed by only a few hours the following week. I have also not been paid extra for Sundays or bank holidays. I want to know what my rights are.
Dear Reader,
So-called “zero-hour contracts” are now restricted in Irish law.
The law provides that employers must compensate employees where they have to be available for work, but no work is given. If you had to make yourself available for work, but are not called for work, your employer is obliged to pay either 25 per cent of those hours or 15 hours, whichever is the less.
If you had to be available to work for up to 35 hours in a week and your employer did not call you or roster you for work, 25 per cent of that would be 8.25 hours. In such circumstances your employer would have to pay you for 15 hours of work. For this reason, many employers are moving away from zero-hour contracts to set hours.
Sometimes your contract will specify you work only a low number of hours a week, but are actually generally rostered for a greater number, but variable, set of hours. If this applies to you, you can demand a ‘banded’ contract – one where you are guaranteed the average hours you have worked over the last year. An employer should give you this ‘banded’ contract and can resist it only in certain relatively limited circumstances.
With regard to Sundays, you are entitled to a reasonable allowance, pay increase, or paid time off work – time-and-a-half is usually the most common agreement between employers and employees.
With regard to public holidays, you are entitled to a paid day off, an additional day of leave, or a day’s pay, if you have worked the total of 40 hours in the five weeks before the public holiday. Some traditional days off (like Good Friday and New Years Eve) are not public holidays, and your employer is not obliged to make any special provision for them.
If you feel that you are not getting all of your rights and entitlements, you can take your claim to the Workplace Relations Commission. Certain time limits apply (usually six months), so you should take steps to speak with your solicitor in the near future. If your workplace is unionised, you should also try and take up the matter with your union.