Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan:

I mentioned the European Commission's consultations on the European pillar of social rights. It has referred to guidance for countries whereby there should be an end to precarious employment relationships. Does the rationale for having people on totally casual work stand up? If there is a need for flexibility, there are myriad ways of organising working time that do not require staff to have complete unpredictability of work, such as the banded hours agreements in the organisations mentioned earlier. There are other examples. In previous committee hearings, there were discussions about the test that should be used for people if they request hours, including objective grounds, which are used in other forms of employment legislation. That would at least test for whether there is a need or a legitimate aim to have people on certain types of employment rather than having it preordained in legislation that genuinely casual work is a reason for people having no predictable hours.