Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 381: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the rules and guidelines regarding workers who work overtime but are given time off in lieu instead of overtime payment; the situation regarding employees who work a large number of hours one week and effectively then have no work the following week and never receive any overtime payment for the excessive hours they work in the particular week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8945/07]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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There is no specific employment rights legislation governing the payment of overtime. While the Organisation of Working time Act 1997 regulates rest breaks and maximum weekly working hours it does not cover overtime payment. Employees do not have a statutory right to overtime pay except in certain employments covered by employment regulation orders or registered employment agreements. Policy in relation to overtime pay may be decided by the employer and agreed as part of the employee's terms and conditions of employment or through collective agreements negotiated between employers and employee representatives.

Terms and conditions of employment are determined in the main by a process of collective bargaining between the employers and employees or their representatives. Within this system parties are free to negotiate or not to negotiate. The State facilitates the bargaining process by providing a framework and institutions through which good industrial relations can prosper. Institutions have been established that can assist in the resolution of disputes between employers and workers such as the Labour Relations Commission, including its Rights Commissioner Service, and the Labour Court.

A number of employment sectors have pay and conditions of employment regulated through the Joint Labour Committee system/Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) or through Registered Employment Agreements (REAs) that are legally binding in sectors to which they apply. Some of the EROs/REAs regulate overtime pay. Employment Regulation Orders or Registered Employment Agreements regulate overtime payment in the following sectors: Aerated Waters & Wholesale Bottling — Agriculture — Catering (Outside Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire) — Catering (Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire) — Construction — Retail Footwear & Drapery (Dublin only) — Electrical Contract — Wholesale Fruit and Veg (Dublin only) — Hairdressing (Dublin City and County, Bray, and Cork City only) — Handkerchief and Household Piece Goods — Hotels (Outside Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire and Cork City) — Law Clerks — Printing (Dublin Only) — Provender Milling — Retail Grocery — Security — Shirtmaking-Tailoring — Women's Clothing and Millinery.

The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 provides that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within 2 months of the commencement of employment. The written statement of terms must include information on any terms or conditions relating to hours of work including overtime, as well as information on the rate of pay of the employee or how the pay is calculated.

An employee who is not paid in accordance with his/her terms of employment may refer a complaint to a Rights Commissioner under the Payment of Wages Act 1991.