Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 6 May 1993

Vol. 430 No. 4

Written Answers. - Contract Cleaning Workers' Rights.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

104 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he will give details of the basic rights of women who work for contract cleaners with particular reference to holidays and protective clothing; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn):

Rates of pay, holidays and other conditions of employment of workers employed in contract cleaning in the City and County of Dublin are prescribed in an Employment Regulation Order made by the Labour Court on the basis of proposals from the Joint Labour Committee for Contract Cleaning (City and County of Dublin). The Order applies to workers, both male and female, employed in contract cleaning who are engaged in the cleaning of the interior of offices, shops, hospitals, factories, stores and other similar establishments. I have arranged with my office to furnish a copy of the Order to the Deputy and to the Oireachtas Library.

The conditions of employment of employees in the contract cleaning industry who are not covered by the Employment Regulation Order are a matter for negotiation between employers and workers or a trade union acting on their behalf. Such employees would, however, have the same statutory entitlements under protective labour legislation, including holiday entitlements, as employees in other industries.

The Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973, provides a minimum, legally enforceable entitlement to 3 weeks annual holidays where the employee has worked 1,400 hours in the leave year. An employee who has not worked the required number of hours is entitled to annual leave at the rate of ¼ of a week for each calendar month in which 120 hours were worked. The Act also provides an entitlement to 9 public holidays.

The Worker Protection (Regular Part-Time Employees) Act, 1991 extended holiday entitlement, on a modified basis, to employees who have been in the continuous employment of the same employer for not less than 13 weeks and who are normally expected to work not less than 8 hours per week. Such employees are classified as regular part-time employees and are entitled to annual leave at the rate of 6 hours per 100 worked and proportionately less where fewer hours are worked. They are also entitled to public holidays on the same basis as full-time employees.

The 1991 Act also extended to regular part-time employees, a large number of whom are women employed in the services sector, the benefits of the legislation relating to unfair dismissals, minimum notice and terms of employment, redundancy payments, insolvency protection, worker participation and maternity leave.

In relation to the question of protective clothing, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 requires an employer, in circumstances where it is not practicable to control or eliminate hazards in a place of work, to provide and have maintained suitable protective clothing or necessary equipment to ensure the safety and health at work of the employee. In addition, under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations, 1993, which came into effect in February 1993, personal protective equipment, including protective clothing, must be provided free of charge by the employer and must be used by the employee in circumstances where it is not practicable to control or eliminate hazards in a place of work.