Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I certainly do not rule out the possibility of placing the code of practice on a statutory footing in the future. I have written to the WRC to ask it for its view on how the code has been working. It has been in place for more than a year. I have written to the WRC to ask for views and opinions as to whether it is working, to what extent it has been effective and how we could improve things. I emphasise that the protection that exists in law is the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. If somebody is at home after a long day's work and then spends an hour replying to work emails, that is work. We probably would benefit from a few more test cases or a few more people coming forward to say that their rights under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 have been breached. In reality, that does not happen, because people are very dedicated to the work that they do, want to get it done and are willing to put in extra hours, even beyond the 48-hour limit. However, it would be helpful to see a few more cases of people coming forward and testing the existing law that we have.

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