Locum pharmacy in Dublin

upforit101 · 30-10-2010 10:47AM

To any Locum who has had EMPLOYERS PRSI deducted from their payslips, claims for refunds should be made in writing and a copy of the P60 for the previous tax year should be sent to;

PRSI Refunds Section,
Department of Social Protection,
Oisn House,
212-213 Pearse Street,
Dublin 2.

Tel: (01) 6732586

Fax: (01) 6732460

Do it, it felt very good cashing my PRSI refund cheque!

pharmacist · 30-12-2010 05:12PM

I am a pharmacist and I too have been a victim of this agency.
I had employers PRSI deducted from my wages. The cheek of this guy!
I have worked a few days for him and then got subsequent booking from the same shop but I get paid a much higher rate from the same shop when booked independently. He is obviously taking a chunk of my wages for himself. I have a family to raise and a mortgage to pay and it makes me really angry that this guy is allowed to do this.

pharmacist · 11-05-2011 02:15PM

I've been told that the agency owner in question in this thread (who is an Italian) is hiring pharmacist from Italy Spain and Portugal and paying them a much lower rate (still higher than they would get from their home country) and then taking a bigger cut himself. He is giving them a guaranteed 4 day week but for a smaller hourly rate.

So basically these foreign pharmacists are getting all the locum work and he then only advertises the days he cannot fill (usually saturdays) to everyone else.
Its not too bad now because there is plenty of locum work around but when things get quite around christmas it is very annoying to irish pharmacists to know that these foreign pharmacists are getting first call on all the locum work.

bleg · 11-05-2011 03:10PM

Pharmaconex have hired Irish pharmacists as well.

pharmacist · 11-05-2011 03:23PM

bleg wrote: »

Pharmaconex have hired Irish pharmacists as well.

yes they have, but proportionally a very small amount of their full time pharmacists (i.e. those guaranteed 4 days a week are Irish)
The few irish one's are the newly qualified or northern irish pharmacists (as the lower rate he pays them is more than they get up north).
The vast majority are his buddies from Italy, Spain etc

Arterialspray · 11-05-2011 06:11PM

pharmacist wrote: »

I've been told that the agency owner in question in this thread (who is an Italian) is hiring pharmacist from Italy Spain and Portugal and paying them a much lower rate (still higher than they would get from their home country) and then taking a bigger cut himself. He is giving them a guaranteed 4 day week but for a smaller hourly rate.

So basically these foreign pharmacists are getting all the locum work and he then only advertises the days he cannot fill (usually saturdays) to everyone else.
Its not too bad now because there is plenty of locum work around but when things get quite around christmas it is very annoying to irish pharmacists to know that these foreign pharmacists are getting first call on all the locum work.

I'd be cautious comparing hourly rates here with Spain/Italy since comparatively speaking all health professionals earn significantly less than they do here. Still though it's a sharp practice paying them below the current rate for the same work.

ActilEater · 11-05-2011 08:54PM

According to its website - “PharmaConex was set up by pharmacists and is run specifically for pharmacists.” It used to say that it paid holiday pay on top of the hourly rate. Now it says that it is included in the hourly rate. It is offering jobs at €22 per hour, so really they are being offered at just over €20 ph. This is the same person who deducted employers PRSI from our pay. Other agencies are paying €25 plus 8% holiday pay per hour and this is displayed transparently on their payslips. If PharmaConex are really on the pharmacists side as they claim, why do they not offer decent wages? I think it is because they are working hand in hand with the multilples and do not care about the locum pharmacist. They would not be trying to flood the sector with cheap labour unless they had some contract to do so. I for one will no longer work through them. As a locum we are entitled to 8% holiday pay for each hour worked.

deepimpact · 11-05-2011 10:20PM

Can you please stop posting hourly rates on a public forum? It serves no purpose and they are not representative of some of the more honourable community employers.

amjon. · 11-05-2011 10:46PM

I was told by Pharmaconex that they had excusivity agreements with Unicare and McCabes. They then told me that they can only offer x rate for these stores because they are big companies and can pay you what they want. The rates offered by pharmaconex are about 20% lower than the rates pharmacies are willing to pay if I book them directly. It does not take a huge amount of effort to get a couple hundred business cards together and walk from store to store distributing them.

pharmacist · 11-05-2011 11:18PM

Every locum on this should email this thread to their locum friends and get each friend to email it to theirs.
At least then people will know what this agency have done in the past in relation to employers prsi and are doing currently in relation to holiday pay, reducing locum wages and not giving irish locums the same opportunities.

amjon. · 11-05-2011 11:30PM

In fairness to Pharmaconex they did get me a lot of work when I first started locuming which in turn gave me a number of contacts to get work independently. Their website is also reasonably well designed and accessible - the online booking is a good idea.
Unfortunately Pharmaconex's business practises bear all the hallmarks of the big multiples in the UK, ruthlessly driving down rates and actively striving to flood the country with continental pharmacists. I am not particularly happy about this but I can afford to take the hit; I really feel for locums out there who have mortgages to pay and children to support.

pharmacist · 11-05-2011 11:48PM

amjon. wrote: »

. I am not particularly happy about this but I can afford to take the hit; I really feel for locums out there who have mortgages to pay and children to support.

this is exactly what he did. He used newly qualified locums like yourself and foreign pharmacists to drive the wages down and then has the cheek to say that the is there to help locums.

He works full time for Hickeys and makes a fortune by taking a big chunk of locums wages to add to his own. He doesn't give a damn if the locum wage falls even futher, he will make his money here and when things collapse will probably head back to Italy with all the money he made off the irish pharmacists.

ActilEater · 11-05-2011 11:52PM

Ok - point taken about posting the rates but it’s no big deal. The point is that whatever rate it is you are entitled to your holiday pay. If you work for only 1 hour in a shop and never enter it again you are entitled to 8% holiday pay on top of your hour. It is not correct to say it is included in your wage. It is also not true about the exclusivity with those chains because another agency got me work there and the rate paid was higher than the Pharmaconex rate. So not only are they driving down our wages, they are underpaying and keeping a cut for themselves. It is basically charging people to finds them work which is ILLEGAL !!! Does anyone expect the IPU to get involved? I mean Pharmaconex is run by a pharmacist, i.e. one of their members and driving down the wages of other members.

locum-motion · 12-05-2011 11:08AM

ActilEater wrote: »

...Does anyone expect the IPU to get involved? I mean Pharmaconex is run by a pharmacist, i.e. one of their members and driving down the wages of other members.

How can the IPU get involved?
If they receive a complaint from a member, that's how.

Are you a member? If not, why not?
If you are a member, have you made a complaint? If not, why not?

It's no good coming onto an internet forum and asking here if anyone "expects the IPU to get involved". The IPU, like any other representative organisation, doesn't respond to anonymous innuendo on the net. It responds to concerns brought directly to its attention by its members.

And by the way, the individual you are talking about is NOT a member of the IPU.

Betaketone · 16-05-2011 04:08PM

pharmacist wrote: »

I am a pharmacist and I too have been a victim of this agency.
I had employers PRSI deducted from my wages. The cheek of this guy!
I have worked a few days for him and then got subsequent booking from the same shop but I get paid a much higher rate from the same shop when booked independently. He is obviously taking a chunk of my wages for himself. I have a family to raise and a mortgage to pay and it makes me really angry that this guy is allowed to do this.

Hi. I've just heard about this thread. Not working in community anymore but find this scenario hard to believe. Have you ever seen the agencys invoice? Are they invoicing for a higher rate than you are getting paid? Maybe the shop paid you a higher rate as they did not have to pay the agency fee (30-40e?)? That would make a 4 or 5 euro bump in your hourly rate?

Betaketone · 19-05-2011 02:40PM

Can any pharmacist help clear up a query of mine. For locums working in community who provides the public liabilty insurance? Is it the locum? The PSI? Their employer for the booking? The agency?

frodi · 19-05-2011 04:25PM

My read of this is that the pharmacies insurance covers you. You are providing a service on behalf of the pharmacy so it it the pharmacies (ie the business) responsiblility to ensure that all is well.

I know of some locums who carry their own insurance in case they are dragged into something as a named party.

locum-motion · 21-05-2011 11:35PM

Betaketone wrote: »

Can any pharmacist help clear up a query of mine. For locums working in community who provides the public liabilty insurance? Is it the locum? The PSI? Their employer for the booking? The agency?

frodi wrote: »

My read of this is that the pharmacies insurance covers you. You are providing a service on behalf of the pharmacy so it it the pharmacies (ie the business) responsiblility to ensure that all is well.

I know of some locums who carry their own insurance in case they are dragged into something as a named party.

There are currently 3 companys who provide Pharmacists' Professional Indemnity Cover in Ireland.

With two of them, the pharmacy's PI cover covers all pharmacists engaged in working in the pharmacy, whether they are PAYE employees or self-employed subcontractors.

With the third, the pharmacy's PI cover only covers PAYE employees of the pharmacy.

The Revenue, of course, want all locums to be PAYE employees in all engagements (This position - which is legally unviable but nobody wants to be the person to challenge it in the courts - is the reason why the business of being a Professional Locum Pharmacist has died in Ireland).

Therefore, if you're operating as a PAYE employee pharmacist, your third party liability is covered by the pharmacy's PI insurance.*

If you are still operating as a self-employed subcontractor (good luck with that!), then your 3rd party liability is covered if the pharmacy is insured with either of the 2nd or 3rd insurer in the market. If they're covered by the market leader, then you need your own PI cover. It's about €400 and odd a year.

* That being said: It is currently unclear whether the pharmacy's PI cover extends as far as providing legal expenses cover for an employee pharmacist who is brought before a fitness to practice committee.

For further information, contact the IPU - specifically your local Employee Pharmacists' Committee Rep.

(This bit, I've said before) If you're not a member of the Union, why not?

Locum pharmacy in Dublin

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