Organisation of Working Time (Organisation of working time Act 1997)
This Act sets out statutory rights for employees in respect of Rest, Maximum Working Time and Holidays.
The maximum average working week is 48 hours. Averaging may be balanced out over a 4, 6 or 12 Month period depending on the circumstances.
Rest
Every Employee has a general entitlement to:
- 11 consecutive hour’s daily rest per 24 hour period.
- One period of 24 hours rest per week preceded by a daily rest period (11 consecutive hours)
Breaks
15 Minutes where no more than 4 and a half hours have been worked. 30 Minutes where no more than 6 hours have been worked which may include the first break.
Rest periods and intervals may be varied if there is a collective agreement in place.
Night Workers
Night Time is the period between Midnight and 7 a.m. the following day.
Night workers are Employees who normally work at least 3 hours of their daily working time during the night time and the annual number of hours worked at night equals or exceeds 50% of annual working time.
The Act permits exemption from the rest provisions in certain circumstances.
Holidays
The act provides that most Employees are entitled to 4 weeks for each leave year with pro-rata entitlements for periods of Employment of less than 1 year.
A normal 5 day week would work out at 1days per month or 20 days.
Public Holidays
The Act provides nine public holidays as follows:
- 1st January (New Years Day)
- 17th March (St Patrick’s Day)
- Easter Monday
- First Monday in May
- First Monday in June
- First Monday in August
- Last Monday in October
- Christmas Day
- St Stephens Day
In respect of each of these Public Holidays, an Employee is entitled to:
- A paid day off on the holiday, or
- A paid day off within a month or
- An extra days annual leave or
- An extra days pay.
as the Employer may decide.
