IMPACT’s campaign against the excessive hours worked by residential care staff has moved up a gear after unions lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission earlier this month. The union is also holding regional meetings in March to brief members on the case and build the campaign on the ground.
IMPACT and Siptu say excessive sleepover demands on residential care staff – who work with children, homeless people and people with disabilities – put the HSE and other health employers in breach of Irish and EU working time legislation. Many staff are expected to work 63-hour weeks, while payment for hours worked on so-called ‘sleepovers’ is below national minimum wage rate.
Now the unions have lodged a complaint with the European Commission, citing management’s continuing breaches of the EU working time directive, as well as its failure to implement recommendations from relevant European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings.
In 2002, the European Court of Justice ‘SIMAP’ judgment ruled that all time spent on-call must be regarded as working time if a worker was required to be at their place of employment. In these situations, it also ruled that workers should be paid overtime “where appropriate.” The following year, the ECJ’s ‘Jaeger’ judgment confirmed that this was the case even if workers could sleep when their services were not required.
The unions say management is flouting the Irish Organisation of Working Time Act, which put the EU legislation into Irish law. The Act says employees are entitled to a rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours in every 24-hour period. If this isn’t possible, they must be given compensatory rest periods at the end of their shift.
The Act also says staff are entitled to breaks of 15-minutes after working 4.5 hours, and 30 minutes after working six hours. Crucially, it also says staff should not work more than an average of 48 hours in any seven-day period.
The unions want sleepovers limited to one a week on average. If possible, they say this should be worked as part of the 39 hours set out in residential care workers’ contracts. Unions are also arguing that any work beyond 39 hours, including sleepovers, should be paid as overtime. They say it is usual for staff to be actively working to provide care during some or all of the ‘sleepover’ period.
Management accept they are in breach of working time legislation, but extensive talks on the issue last year came to nothing. The unions subsequently referred the matter to the Labour Court, which earlier this month directed the parties to return to the LRC to try and resolve the issues no later than 31st May.
Like
