The Government is to carry out a study into the prevalence of 'zero-hour' and low hour contracts and the impact of such contracts on employees. Zero-hour contracts of employment are contracts typically where the employee is available for work but does not have specified or guaranteed hours of work.  These types of contracts are usually found in sectors such as retail, hospitality, health and education.

The Minister for Business and Employment, Ged Nash TD, issued a call this week for tenders to carry out the study.

The key objectives of the study are:-

• To fill the gap that currently exists in terms of the hard data and information that is available concerning the prevalence of “zero hours contracts” in the Irish economy and the manner of their use.
• To assess the impact of “zero hours contracts” on employees.
• To enable evidence-based policy recommendations to Government considered necessary on foot of the study.

Minister Nash said, “We are seeing increasing debate both at home and further afield on zero hour contracts.  But, there is a distinct lack of hard data in Ireland on the prevalence of zero hour contracts and low hour contracts and the impact they have on workers.  We are addressing this information gap through this study.

“We need to map and better understand the prevalence and impact of zero hour contracts in Irish employment and then decide what policy changes, if any, Government needs to make in response to the findings.

“Workers here have more protections than their counterparts in Britain through the Organisation of Working Time Act.  This ensures that where employees suffer a loss by not being given the hours they were requested to work or be available for work, they can be compensated for 25% of the time or 15 hours, whichever is less.  But, we also want to know if workers are availing of this mechanism" he said.

All sectors of the economy are expected to come within the scope of the study; however, a particular focus will be on the retail, hospitality, education and health sectors. The study is expected to cover both the public and private sectors.

It's also expected that stakeholders including employers, employees, employer representative bodies, trade unions and Government Departments will be canvassed to contribute to the study.

The request for tenders was issued on the Government’s e-tenders website this week and the deadline for applications is the 15^th December.

It's expected that the study will commence early in the New Year and will report back its findings in the second quarter of 2015.