Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Ana Beatriz  Pousas Menezes

The Wilder Townhouse

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

Representatives

  In person

 Respondent Manager

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

CA-00060803-001

03/01/2024

The complainant worked in the respondent hotel from 1st May 2023 until 31st December 2023, she was employed as an accommodation assistant.

This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 3rd January 2024.

The complainant asserts that throughout the period of her employment she worked most Sundays and was never paid a Sunday premium as set out in the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.

The Respondent accepts that no Sunday premium is paid to employees however the hourly rate of €12.75 per hour is high when compared to industry norms, this high hourly rate compensates for working on Sunday.

The Respondent stated that the Complainant had worked on 32 Sundays during her period of employment.

The law pertaining to Sunday working can be found at section 14 0f the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997:

14. (1) An employee who is required to work on a Sunday (and the fact of his or her having to work on that day has not otherwise been taken account of in the determination of his or her pay) shall be compensated by his or her employer for being required so to work by the following means, namely-

a) by the payment to the employee of an allowance of such an amount as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, or

b) by otherwise increasing the employee’s rate of pay by such an amount as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, or

c) by granting the employee such paid time off from work as is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances, or

d) by a combination of two or more of the means referred to in the preceding paragraphs.

In considering this complaint it is not possible to consider the entire duration of the complainant’s employment. Section 27 (4) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 reads as follows:

 27 (4) A rights commissioner shall not entertain a complaint under this section if it is presented to the commissioner after the expiration of the period of 6 moths beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates.

The cognisable period therefore is 4th July 2023 to 3rd January 2024.

The employment lasted 35 weeks, the complainant worked on 32 Sundays during this period. I estimate that the complainant worked on 29 Sundays during the cognisable period. Each Sunday was 8 hours duration providing a total of 232 hours on Sundays.

I now order the Respondent to pay the complainant a premium of 10% for Sunday working, this amounts to 23.2 hours at €12.75 per hour = €295.80.

The respondent should look at employment contracts issued and amend accordingly.

This payment should be made to the complainant within 42 days from the date of this decision.

I now order the Respondent to pay the complainant a premium of 10% for Sunday working, this amounts to 23.2 hours at €12.75 per hour = €295.80.

Sunday premium.