Sunday Pay

projectmayhem

hi guys, this is a tough one and probably requires some sort of legal knowledge to get some come-back here.

basically, where i work, all full time staff are working on 39 hour weeks. this is 5 days a week, 9-6 (one hour break). we also work some sundays, which is time & a half.. 12-6.

however, for example me this week, i'm working monday to saturday (excluding thursday). this is 40 hours. plus an extra hour on tuesday because for some reason the opening hours are 9-7. 41 hours, two hours extra on my 39 hour contract.

now, before i go on... overtime is allowed in this company so i'm not locked to 39 hours PAY in my contract or anything like that.

i confronted my manager about the extra hour or two i've been working pro-bono for the last few months, as have all full time staff in the company.

his response was that the sundays, which is a 6 hour shift, plus time and a half, reimburses us for the one or two hours we loose every week working.

i asked someone with some know-how who said my contract likely states that sunday is a sunday-rate, and as such seperate from my rate of work on any other time of the week... i.e. they can't use that rate to excuse the extra hours in my contract. my payslips every month show this, with a seperate line for sunday hours worked.

i told my manager it seemed a bit dodgy and he said he's come across this question a lot in his years there. but i'm not satisfied with the answer. especially knowing the dolt who does the rosters. there's no way he's taking this algorithm into account when he does this.

i tried looking for some sort of legal documents online but to be honest i'm lost. i won't name the company as it's quite a big one and if i'm correct to think this is wrong, or even illegal, it could be expensive for the company to pay back everyone.

i know it's sort of hard to follow... but i've worked in a number of companies where sunday work came up quite a bit, and every single time i would have worked 40 hours plus anything extra gained on sunday... not reimbursed for lost hours on a sunday rate...

cheers for any help anyone can give...

AARRRGH

Are you paid a salary, or an hourly rate?

projectmayhem

dublindude wrote: »

Are you paid a salary, or an hourly rate?

hourly rate... sorry i tried to say that in the post but couldn't remember the word "salary"... it's been a long day

dsane1

get onto siptu and they will advise you

Kimbot

If you are paid an hourly rate then you get paid for the 41 hours during the week, this should be broken down on your payslip as 41 X €(Hourly Rate) Then there should be a seperate line item with your Sunday hours which should be 6 X €(Hourly Rate X 1.5).

They cannot add on hours and not pay you for them.
No legal advise can be given on the boards but this happened me before and I know a good bit of the labour laws so if there is anything you are stuck on you can PM me.

projectmayhem

jonny24ie wrote: »

If you are paid an hourly rate then you get paid for the 41 hours during the week, this should be broken down on your payslip as 41 X €(Hourly Rate) Then there should be a seperate line item with your Sunday hours which should be 6 X €(Hourly Rate X 1.5).

They cannot add on hours and not pay you for them.
No legal advise can be given on the boards but this happened me before and I know a good bit of the labour laws so if there is anything you are stuck on you can PM me.

on my pay slip it says hourly rate x 39, and the next line is the sunday rate, if i work a sunday shift.

i'm not unionised and don't want to escalate this madly. i'll confront someone more senior in the company tomorrow and see how it goes. if i don't get anywhere i'll drop siptu a line and see what can be done.

Kimbot

projectmayhem wrote: »

on my pay slip it says hourly rate x 39, and the next line is the sunday rate, if i work a sunday shift.

i'm not unionised and don't want to escalate this madly. i'll confront someone more senior in the company tomorrow and see how it goes. if i don't get anywhere i'll drop siptu a line and see what can be done.

Well if you are not unionised then Siptu won't help at all, is there a union in your workplace??

As I say the above is the law regarding pay. Also they can be done by Revenue for failing to provided correct details as you are working 41 hours but only getting paid for 39 so they are avoiding PRSI and the likes.

Also I was a Union rep for a few years just in case you were wondering.

greatgoal

as far as i know,sunday should be double time and not time plus a half

Kimbot

greatgoal wrote: »

as far as i know,sunday should be double time and not time plus a half

Not by law.

14.—(1) An employee who is required to work on a Sunday (and the fact of his or her having to work on that day has not otherwise been taken account of in the determination of his or her pay) shall be compensated by his or her employer for being required so to work by the following means, namely—


( a ) by the payment to the employee of an allowance of such an amount as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, or


( b ) by otherwise increasing the employee's rate of pay by such an amount as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, or


( c ) by granting the employee such paid time off from work as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, or


( d ) by a combination of two or more of the means referred to in the preceding paragraphs.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0020/sec0014.html#zza20y1997s14

bret69

I’m almost certain they can’t do this. If you go here http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/media/minimum_wage.pdf you will see a very good document regarding the national minimum wage.

What your employer needs to understand is the difference between Reckonable Pay and Non-reckonable pay. Sunday premium is regarded as non-reckonable pay, so effectively those other hours are unpaid.

axer

The way it stands is that you are getting paid per hour. The agreement is that you get time and a half on sundays. You thus should get paid all your hours worked (since you are not on a salary) including time and a half for the sunday hours.

Looks like if you want to escalate this past your employer you will have to use the Rights Commissioner Service.. Citizens info here.