Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister indicated, this legislation directly affects many people who are in receipt of very low wages. Fianna Fáil supports the passing of this Bill to Committee Stage. Our party policy is to ban zero-hour and low-hour contracts that are abusive to workers. We have consistently advocated our policy for the provision of banded hour contracts that work for both worker and employer in a balanced and proportionate way. These commitments were in our party's manifesto in 2016. Significantly, both of these key features are provided for in this Bill and represent progress on policy commitments secured by Fianna Fáil in the confidence and supply arrangement during the formation of this Government. We are happy to work with the Minister on some of the amendments she has outlined in order that the Bill will pass seamlessly through Committee Stage.

The main provisions of the Bill are: to ensure that employees are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements; to prohibit zero-hour contracts in most circumstances; and to strengthen the provisions relating to minimum payments to low-paid employees who may be called in to work for a period but not provided with that work. It introduces a banded hours provision so that employees on low-hour contracts who consistently work more hours each week than provided for in their contracts of employment, are entitled to be placed in a band of hours that better reflects the reality of the hours they have worked over a reference period. The Bill strengthens the anti-penalisation provisions for employees who invoke a right under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.

With regard to zero-hour contracts, section 15 replaces the existing section 18 of the Organisation of Working Time Act with a new section 18, which prohibits zero-hour practices in most circumstances.It provides that zero-hour practices are allowed in limited circumstances, for example, emergencies or short-term relief work to cover routine absences. In situations where employees are called into work but sent home without work, there will be a new minimum payment of three times the national minimum wage or three times the minimum hourly rate in an employment regulation order. Employees who are on call will continue to be excluded from this minimum payment.

Section 16 deals with banded hours. The Bill introduces banded hour contracts in primary employment legislation. A banded hours system means that the employee is aware of his or her minimum guaranteed weekly working hours and the likely maximum number of hours he or she will be required to work. This directly affects employees looking for a loan or applying for a mortgage in that it can be taken into account in their application, thereby giving some certainty in their lives. Banded hours mean that employees are guaranteed working hours that do not fall below the minimum of the band that applies to them. Under the provisions of the Bill an employee will be entitled, where his or her contract of employment does not reflect the number of hours habitually worked per week over a reference period, to be placed on a band of working hours that is a more accurate reflection of hours worked. The reference period provided for is 12 months, whereas it was previously 18 months. If an employee believes his or her contract does not accurately reflect the hours worked, that employee requests to be placed on the band of weekly working hours. The employer will have four weeks to consider the request and to place the employee in the relevant band of hours. Disputes will be referred to the Workplace Relations Commission and to the Labour Court, on appeal.

This section of the Bill also includes reasonable defences for employers to refuse an employee’s request to be placed on a particular band, for example, where the facts do not support the employee’s claim, where significant adverse changes have impacted on the business, for example, emergency circumstances, where the business has had to close due to flooding or other events, and where the hours worked by the employee were due to a genuinely temporary situation. It is important that we balance safeguarding workers’ rights with the rights of employers.

The Minister referred to section 20 dealing with bogus self-employment. Deputy O'Dea has raised this issue with a view to ensuring we tackle the prolific use of bogus self-employment, not just in the private sector but also in the public sector. It is not just employees who are being deprived of their social welfare benefits, but taxpayers and the Revenue are also deprived of employer's PRSI by both the private sector and the public sector. It is not just an issue that affects the private sector.

Fianna Fáil included and secured an amendment on Report Stage to make it an offence for an employer to incorrectly designate an employee as self-employed. This is very much to make the point that this is a serious issue and has to be tackled. I welcome that the Minister is creating a separate forum to tackle this issue. As I said, we are happy to work with the Minister on the basis that this provision will be removed and the Bill goes through Committee Stage without delay. Our main focus is to facilitate the passage of the Bill and under no circumstances do we want to block it. This is a serious issue that has to be addressed. We are committed to workers’ rights and ending situations where workers are erroneously designated as self-employed.

The Fianna Fáil position is that workers on low and zero-hour contracts have no security when it comes to hours or pay from week to week. It is very unfair that workers in such precarious positions face uncertainty every week and every month. Under the confidence and supply arrangement we extracted a policy commitment to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work that prevents workers from being able to save or have any job security. Workers deserve a fair reward for the work performed. We believe that priority focus should be on low and medium paid workers and improving their job security. Too many workers, most of whom are women, are in unstable work as they are only offered part-time or temporary employment, or zero-hour contracts. We support fair and decent living wages for all workers in Ireland. Zero-hour contracts must be changed to allow workers more certainty. Workers on low and zero-hour contracts must be allowed the right to request more hours of work.

We support proportionate legislation on banded-hour contracts for those on low pay. This will allow workers on low and zero-hour contracts a minimum set of hours and the right to request more hours, as practised in other larger retailers. As a party, we recognise that the majority of employers act in a fair and decent manner and treat their employees appropriately. On Committee Stage we will be receptive to amendments to section 10, which states that an employer who fails to furnish an employee with a statement in writing no later than five days after commencement of the particulars of their employment may be subject to a summary conviction and a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both. This is civil legislation and I do not believe it should contain criminal sanctions. The WRC is a very effective tool; it has been given many more powers since its establishment and is working well. Ultimately, we would be happy to review the amendments the Minister tables in regard to section 10. A law which states that somebody can go to jail for 12 months if he or she does not provide information in time seems disproportionate and unfairly harsh on employers, and we will be receptive to amendments to improve this section on Committee Stage.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I look forward to the speedy passage of the Bill before Christmas.