Your Employment Rights
These Rules apply to ALL employees residing in this country - full time, part time, International Student, Apprentice or EU Student.
Q.What is the minimum wage?
From July 01st 2007 the national minimum wage is €8.65 per hour
Q.Am I entitled to Overtime pay?
A part-time employee is entitled to the same rate of overtime pay as his/her comparable full-time employee.
Q.What annual holidays am I entitled to?
Employees working at least 1,365 hours are entitled to 4 weeks in
a leave year,employees working at least 117 hours 1/3 of a working week per calender month 8% of hours an employee works in a leave year.
Q.Am I entitled to rest breaks?
The employee is entitled to a 15 minute break after 41/2 hours work and a 30 minute break for anything greater than 6 hours (may include first 15 minutes break)
Q.What happens if there is a dispute or I want to make a complaint?
Any disputes or complaints in relation to contraventions of the Act are referred to a Rights Commissioner with a right of appeal to the Labour Court.
Q.Do I get paid for Public holidays?
If the holiday falls on a day that an employee would normally work, that
employee is entitled to a day's pay for the Public holiday. If the employee is required to work on the Public holiday, that employee is entitled to an additional day of annual leave or an additional day's pay.
Non-National Workers working in Ireland
The Protection of Employees(Part-Time Work) Act 2001 confirms for the "avoidance of doubt" that Irish Employee protection legislation conforms to the requirements of Directive 96/71EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16th December 1996, concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services. In this regard, the Act provides that the full range of Irish employee protection legislation apply to foreign workers posted to work in,or otherwise working in this country.
This is basic information in relation to employment
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS:
Your Students' Union has contacts with all the major Trade Unions
and plenty of information & advice to go with it.
Don't feel that you have to just accept anything that arises at
work - we are here to help you and will be delighted to do so.
National minimum wage
The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 provides that the minimum wage rate for an experienced adult employee from 1 July 2007 is €8.65 an hour, (was €8.30). An experienced adult employee for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act is an employee who has an employment of any kind in any 2 years over the age of 18. (See also "Rates" section below).
Of course the national minimum wage (NMW) does not stop an
employer from offering a higher
wage.
more information....
Calculating the hourly rate
Under Section 20 of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 the basic method of calculation is to divide the gross pay by the total number of hours worked. To begin with, however, it is necessary to note what pay is taken into account, what hours are included as working hours and what is the pay reference period (over what period the calculation is made).
What does not count as pay?
There are a number of items that are not to be included in the minimum wage calculation, these are:
Overtime premium
Call-out premium
Service pay
Unsocial hours premium
Tips which are placed in a central fund managed by the employer and paid as part of your wages
Premiums for working public holidays, Saturdays or Sundays
Allowances for special or additional duties
On-call or standby allowances
Certain payments in relation to absences from work, for example, sick pay, holiday pay or pay during health and safety leave
Payment connected with leaving the employment including retirement
Contributions paid by the employer into any occupational pension scheme available to you
An advance payment of, for example, salary: the amount involved will be taken into account for the period in which it would normally have been paid
Payment in kind or benefit in kind, other than board and/or lodgings
Payment not connected with the person's employment
Compensation for injury or loss of tools
Award as part of a staff suggestion scheme
Loan by the employer to you
What counts as pay?
For the purposes of the national minimum wage your gross wage includes, for example, the basic salary and any shift premium, bonus or service charge.
If you receive food (known as board) and/or accommodation (known as lodgings) from your employer, the following amounts are included in the minimum wage calculation:
€54.13 for full board and lodgings per week, or €7.73 per day
€32.14 for full board only per week, or €4.60 per day
€21.85 for lodgings only per week, or €3.14 per day
Working hours
Your working hours are whichever is the greater:
the hours set out in any document such as a contract of employment, collective agreement or statement of terms of employment provided under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994,
or
the actual hours worked or available for work and paid
"Working hours" include:
overtime
travel time where this is part of the job
time spent on training authorised by the employer and during normal working hours
"Working hours" does not include:
time spent on standby other than at the workplace
time on leave, lay-off, strike or after payment in lieu of notice
time spent travelling to or from work
