Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 11 Apr 2001

Vol. 534 No. 4

Written Answers - Employees' Rights.

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

92 Mr. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position regarding weekly and daily hours of work and time off in lieu of working time requirements and the position with regard to bullying and harassment in the workplace. [10935/01]

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Mr. T. Kitt)

The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 provides that an employee shall be entitled to a daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours and for a weekly rest period of 35 consecutive hours. If the employer cannot provide weekly rest he must provide the employee with 59 consecutive hours rest within two weeks, under the Act. The Act also provides that if an employee's contract of employment does not provide otherwise, the weekly or two weekly rest period should include Sunday.

Section 14 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 provides that if an employee is required to work on a Sunday and if this is not taken account of in the determination of his or her pay then he or she must be compensated, inter alia, by the granting of such paid time off from work as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances. The paid time off, while not specified in quantitative terms in the Act, must be reasonable relative to the employment circumstances of the individual employee. What is reasonable in this sense is ordinarily determined by reference to the compensation for Sunday working given to a comparable employee as specified in a collective agreement in force in respect of a similar industry-business sector. This is the principle followed in cases relating to Sunday work compensation coming before Rights Commissioners. If employees are not in receipt of paid time off for Sunday working and if their employer refuses to grant them such a premium it is open to them to take a case to a Rights Commissioner for redress.

The issue of workplace bullying is the subject of a Task Force report, which I launched yesterday, Tuesday 10th April. The report, which represents a comprehensive examination of the issue, makes a number of recommendations relating to actions which should be undertaken at both State and at enterprise level, in order to address workplace bullying.

The principal recommendations relating to action at State level include the designation of the Health and Safety Authority as the central co-ordinating State agency, the introduction of codes of practice on workplace bullying and harassment under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, the Industrial Relations Act, 1990 and the Employment Equality Act, 1998, and the establishment of an advisory committee on workplace bullying under the auspices of the Health and Safety Authority.

In relation to harassment, the Employment Equality Act 1998, for which my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has responsibility, prohibits both sexual harassment and harassment on nine specific grounds in the workplace, or in the course of employment, whether by an employer, by another employee or by clients, customers or business contacts of the employer. The nine grounds are: gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, disability, race and membership of the traveller community.