working hours

seanaboy

Hi people,

I wonder can anyone give me an answer to my situation.
In my job we have to work every fourth weekend, 6.30. Am - 10am, Sat and Sun. This means we work 12 days straight, I.e we work our normal week Mon-Fri, plus two half days on the Sat & Sun, then back to work the next day Mon to Friday, 12 days in a row. We don't get over time or get paid for the two days instead we get one day in lieu for our two half days worked. So basically we still get paid the exact amount of money for that week as we do on a normal five day working week. Also if our weekend falls on a bank holiday weekend we get paid as normal for our day and get 3.5 hours in lieu, no overtime. My question is this legal?

Stheno

seanaboy wrote: »

Hi people,

I wonder can anyone give me an answer to my situation.
In my job we have to work every fourth weekend, 6.30. Am - 10am, Sat and Sun. This means we work 12 days straight, I.e we work our normal week Mon-Fri, plus two half days on the Sat & Sun, then back to work the next day Mon to Friday, 12 days in a row. We don't get over time or get paid for the two days instead we get one day in lieu for our two half days worked. So basically we still get paid the exact amount of money for that week as we do on a normal five day working week. Also if our weekend falls on a bank holiday weekend we get paid as normal for our day and get 3.5 hours in lieu, no overtime. My question is this legal?

When do you get the day in lieu?

seanaboy

Stheno wrote: »

When do you get the day in lieu?

We can choose what day this is ourselves.

wmpdd3

I don't see any issues with the 7 day week, its the lack of 4 days in 14 that I have an issue with.

I'd hate it but I would have worked something similar in retail.

Does the 7 days week add up to over 48 hours?

The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 states that the maximum average working week for many employees cannot exceed 48 hours. This does not mean that a working week can never exceed 48 hours, it is the average that is important. The average may be calculated in one of the following ways:

Over 4 months for most employees
Over 6 months for employees working in the security industry, hospitals, prisons, gas/electricity, airport/docks, agriculture and employees in businesses which have peak periods at certain times of the year such as tourism.
over 12 months where there has been an agreement between the employer and the employees to this effect. The agreement between employer and employees must be approved by the Labour Court.
The calculation of 48 hours does not include annual leave, sick leave or maternity/adoptive/parental leave.
The legislation also lays down rules for night workers, minimum breaks and rest periods. There are also special provisions in relation to Sunday working – see below.

Exceptions

I think this part may be of use to you:

Rest periods
The definition of a rest period is any time that is not working time. The rest periods set out in the Act are as follows:

(a) You are entitled to 11 consecutive hours rest in any period of 24 hours. In addition you should get 24 consecutive hours rest in any period of 7 days and this should normally follow on from one of the 11-hour rest periods already mentioned, or

(b) As an alternative your employer can give you two 24-hour rest periods in the week that follows one in which you did not get the entitlement described in (a) above.

Unless your contract provides otherwise your 24-hour rest period referred to above should include a Sunday.

Who is not covered by the Act

You are not getting your 1 day off per week.

Some jobs are outside the Working Time Directive and some places I worked I had to sign to say I reserved my right to the act.

Also depends on what's in your contract, your employer may have agreed a payment or salary addition to cover this extra work.

If you need more info contact these guys:

Workplace Relations Customer Service
Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation
O’Brien Road
Carlow
Tel: 059 9178990
Lo-call: 1890 80 80 90 *
(09.30 - 17.00, Monday to Friday)
Fax: 059 9178909

DX: 271001 Carlow2