Employment Rules
There are rules that govern every employment relationship in Ireland. These rules include the following:
Any employee must have 11 hours of uninterrupted rest every 24 hours. In practice this translates into this: Either your carer works by day or she works by night…but she can’t do both. Normally our carers rest/sleep by night and are there as a passive presence at night, in case of an emergency and then by day they do their work: housekeeping, preparing meals, keeping company and providing personal care, if required. So in practice, our carer can be available from 9 am in the morning until 10 pm at night and during these 13 hours she will do her 7 or 8 hours work with breaks in between blocks of work time.
For example, 9:00 to 11:00 Carer helps client get up, dressed and have breakfast and take medication. Then the carer takes a break until 12:30. Then 12:30 to 2:30 Carer prepares and serves lunch and tidies up afterwards. Then 2:30 to 4:30 Carer takes a break. Then 4:30 to 5:30 The carer takes the client for a walk or play scrabble or listen to music with the client. Then 5:30 to 6:30 Carer takes a break again. Then 6:30 to 7:30 The carer prepares and serves evening meal. Then 7:30 to 9:00 Carer takes a break. Then 9:00 to 10:00 Carer helps client get ready for bed. Carer finishes work at 10 pm.
Carer can work a maximum of 48 hours per week, which could be 8 hours per day, 6 days per week. The carer must have a minimum of 24 consecutive hours completely free every week. Note: In our carer employment contract the carer needs to be guaranteed 35 hours work across a maximum of 5 days and then any additional hours or an additional day is overtime.
Sunday Supplement: The carer is entitled to 10% supplement on her salary for any work done on a Sunday. So if your carer works on a Sunday, you need to give her 10% extra on top of her salary for that day…because it is a Sunday.
Four weeks paid holidays per year. If your carer normally works 5 days per week, then she is entitled to 20 days of paid holidays per year or part thereof. If your carer normally works 6 full days per week, then she is entitled to 24 days of paid holidays per year or part thereof.
Double pay on a bank holiday. If you ask your carer to work on a bank holiday she is entitled to double pay for that day. If you give your carer the day off or if she normally doesn’t work on a bank holiday, then she is entitled to be paid at the normal rate of pay for that day.
Written notice to terminate the employment relationship. Depending on the circumstances the carer is entitled to 2 or 3 weeks notice in writing to terminate the employment relationship.
For a comprehensive overview of employment rights you should consult the Work Relations Commission website or the Citizen Information website.
