HSE management’s failure to deal with excessive sleepover demands on staff in residential child care and disability facilities has been referred to the Labour Court.  IMPACT and Siptu say the HSE and various employers are in breach of Irish and EU working time legislation, and that many staff are expected to work 55-70 hours a week.

The unions raised the issue in the media last month after the latest round of Labour Relations Commission talks failed to reach agreement.

HSE management has admitted that residential child care and disability agencies are routinely breaching working time legislation by requiring staff to work an excessive number of sleepovers on top of their standard 39-hour working week.  Staff are systematically required to work seven-hour sleepover shifts for just €6.40 an hour, well below the statutory minimum wage of €8.65.

The HSE and management in the agencies have failed to reach a resolution on the issue during six months of talks, despite being required to do so under the Haddington Road agreement.

IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell said the HSE and its agencies were claiming that the sleepover issue could not be resolved because of cost and resource constraints. “There appears to be no effective limit on pay costs for chief executives. Meanwhile managers order staff to work as many as seven sleepovers a fortnight, in flagrant breach of Irish and EU working time laws, for the princely sum of €3 an hour after tax,” she said.