Seanad debates
Tuesday, 27 May 2003
Sustaining Progress: Statements.
I did not know until recently that under the working time legislation a person who works by choice for more than 48 hours commits a criminal act and can be prosecuted for choosing to do so. If I have one job in which I work for 39 hours, Monday to Friday, but also have a part-time job at weekends because I want to save to go to Australia, I can be prosecuted, as can my employer, even though I am working by choice. I sometimes wonder where our sense of entrepreneurship and drive have gone. While it is not the case with this agreement, we can move too far over towards protecting employees from themselves without realising that sometimes we need to let them look after themselves.
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