Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a commitment in the programme for the Government to address the increase in casualisation of workers and to strengthen employment regulations. The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 is currently going through the Oireachtas and it addresses several workers’ rights issues, including prohibiting zero-hour contracts in most circumstances and requiring the terms of employment to be produced by an employer within five days, a new minimum payment for employees called in to work but sent home again without work, a new right for employees whose contract of employment does not reflect the reality of the hours they habitually work, and for employees to be entitled to be placed in a band of hours that better reflect the hours they have worked over a reference period, as well as strong anti-penalisation provisions for employees.

The Minister welcomes the broad support for the Bill, which aims to improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours. It particularly focuses on low-paid or vulnerable workers.

I am aware of people attending my constituency office with these issues. I go directly to the Department about these cases. I urge the Deputies to bring these matters to attention of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, as well as writing to the Minister about them.

See this speech in context