Am I entitled to time on lieu for overtime?

Laura Rua

I work for an event management company that organises medical conferences around the world. There’s quite a bit of travel involved and, during the conferences, we often work up to 14 hour days for several consecutive days.

When I joined the company last July, I queried a line in my contract which states:

“Your normal working hours will be 9:00am to 6:00pm. You may be required to work additional hours to these depending on the reasonable requirements of the company. Due to the nature of your position, this may include evening or weekend work where necessary. Please note there is no additional remuneration for overtime”.

When I asked whether I would at least receive time on lieu for working long hours, the boss gave me a flat out “no”. I’m still unsure whether this is legal.

Last week, I left very early on Thursday to fly to London, working three days and evenings and arrived back on Saturday night around midnight. With the Bank Holiday coming up, I’d like to use some of these hours, or even just the hours I put in on Saturday as time on lieu so I can take next Tuesday off.

I’m wondering whether there’s any piece of legislation that might help argue my point? Am I entitled to a day off, having worked a Saturday, plus two evenings outside normal office hours?

Mr. Loverman

I don't know if your contract can override this:

There is no statutory obligation on employers in Ireland to pay employees higher rates, for example, double time, for work completed in overtime. You must, however, receive at the very least your normal hourly rate of pay for overtime.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/hours_of_work/working_week.html

ixoy

Many companies (large ones too) don't pay overtime so I assume there is legal provision to allow a company to over-ride this.

Laura Rua

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

I don't know if your contract can override this:

There is no statutory obligation on employers in Ireland to pay employees higher rates, for example, double time, for work completed in overtime. You must, however, receive at the very least your normal hourly rate of pay for overtime.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/hours_of_work/working_week.html

Funny- I had looked at the exact same source, but it doesn't really clarify things

Irish_Elect_Eng

It depends,if your contract specifies a salary then, in general you do not get overtime.
If your contract specifies an hourly rate then, in general, you get overtime.

Your contract specifically excludes this.

But You would normally be due time in lieu for the weekend work if you had worked the rest of the week.

Laura Rua

Thanks for the replies. Going by this, and by the responses to similar threads, it depends very much on the job and the contract.

On a positive note, I got the Tuesday off It took a stare-off competition with my boss, but he gave in. Result!

fasttalkerchat

So you don't get paid for the extra hours? Or you just don't get anything extra for the extra hours?

Laura Rua

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

So you don't get paid for the extra hours? Or you just don't get anything extra for the extra hours?

Nope- no pay for overtime. And I only got time on lieu because I hassled him for it.

Ant

Laura Rua wrote: »

I work for an event management company that organises medical conferences around the world. There’s quite a bit of travel involved and, during the conferences, we often work up to 14 hour days for several consecutive days.

When I joined the company last July, I queried a line in my contract which states:

“Your normal working hours will be 9:00am to 6:00pm. You may be required to work additional hours to these depending on the reasonable requirements of the company. Due to the nature of your position, this may include evening or weekend work where necessary. Please note there is no additional remuneration for overtime”.

I'm not a lawyer and the (il)legality of this situation isn't clear-cut and needs input from someone with more specialised knowledge. FWIW, here's my take:

In my previous job, I was paid a salary and simply got time in lieu for over-time and it was all done fairly and transparently and meant that employees were happy to go the extra mile when needed. Your employer is taking the piss and exploiting you and presumably the other workers in your position. Unless it's rare that you might end up working up to "14 hour days for several consecutive days" means that the company is breaking the part of the contract which states that "normal working hours will be 9:00am to 6:00pm".

There should be give and take on both sides but from your post, it sounds very one-sided. From what you say it sounds like they'd be the types who would try to weasel their way out by re-defining what they mean by "normal" but I'd definitely talk to someone in your union. If the work-place isn't unionised, it sounds like the employees need to get organised to avoid or minimise the level of exploitation.

At the very least, I'd advise keeping a log of your working hours over a period of months as the average would. Under the Official Working Time Act, your employer should already be keeping such records - but they should be accurate and factual. I'd also advise making a record of all discussions on this issue (including the outcomes) and to try to use email so that there's a written record.

Laura Rua

Thanks Ant- those are some really good suggestions.I'm from Derry up north, and when the contract didn't sound right, I did some reading up. I found the bit about employers keeping a record of hours worked and put that to my boss- he had no clue what I was on about. I don't think he has a clue about management, and being a workaholic he just expects the same from his staff.

I'll be sure to keep a record of my hours, and all discussions about this. It seems that it's really down to the individual to make sure they're not taken advantage of.

fasttalkerchat

I don't want to say too much here but I saw an advert for an event management in Derry and enquired about it. It basically said that there was good money with big travel bonuses and you could do whatever level of involvement you wanted. I enquired about it and it turned out that the woman I spoke to hadn't even seen the terms and claims offered on the ad. It was basically whatever hours was needed and no guaranteed income.
I revoked my interest at that point.
The ad was on gumtree so you see a lot like that.