Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With limited specified exceptions, such a close family members, statutory apprentices and participants on JobBridge, the National Minimum Wage Act applies to all employees. The Act defines employee as a person of any age who has entered into, or works or has worked under, a contract of employment. A contract of employment means a contract of service or apprenticeship or any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person to do or perform personally any work or service for that person or a third person whether or not the third person is a party to the contract.

The current national minimum wage for an experienced adult worker is €8.65 per hour. Hourly rates of between 70% and 90% of the adult rate apply to employees under the age of 18 years, in the first two years after the date of first employment over age 18, and those undergoing a course that satisfies the conditions set out in SI 99 of 2000.

It is a criminal offence for an employer to pay an employee less than his or her minimum hourly rate of pay entitlement. If an employee is not satisfied that he or she is being paid his or her statutory minimum entitlement under the 2000 Act, the employee may refer the dispute to the rights commissioner or refer the matter directly to the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, for investigation. NERA has a regionally based inspectorate mandated to ensure compliance with employment-related legislation, including the national minimum wage. Inspections result from cases and sectors identified on the basis of risk analysis, including unannounced inspections, and as a result of complaints received. Some 917 inspections were by way of follow up to complaints in 2013. To end of September 2014, NERA has recovered €637,000 of unpaid wages for employees.

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