Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he has carried out research into the effect of the dissolution of the Sunday premium on the working poor. [41594/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The requirement for an employer to provide additional compensation to employees for Sunday work has not been removed. The obligation to provide a Sunday Premium is derived from Section 14 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (OWT). In summary, while the OWT Act specifies the means by which an employer should provide a premium for Sunday working, the nature and value of the premium rate is a matter for negotiation and agreement between the employer and trade union(s) representing employees or between the employer and employees who are affected by Sunday trading, in circumstances where employees are not unionised. Thus, under section 14 any employee who is required to work on a Sunday, and his or her having to work on that day has not been taken account of in the determination of pay, shall be compensated by the payment to the employee of a reasonable allowance having regard to all the circumstances; or by increasing the employee’s rate of pay by a reasonable amount having regard to all the circumstances; or by granting the employee reasonable paid time off from work having regard to all the circumstances; or by a combination of two or more of the above.

Prior to the High Court ruling in the Grace Fried Chicken case that resulted in the striking down of all Employment Regulation Orders, many EROs had provided premium payments to those required to work on Sundays. Where EROs had made provision for a Sunday premium, they had only prescribed the level of monetary compensation (e.g. double time; time plus one-third) and had excluded the possibility of the use of the other options under section 14 of the OWT Act. These provisions were a source of significant concern to employers in sectors in which Sunday is a normal working day. In some cases, such as the hospitality sector, it is the day of greatest demand for the services provided. The Duffy-Walsh report accepted that there was validity in the argument that the arrangements in place in JLC sectors with regard to Sunday working were unduly burdensome, particularly in sectors in which Sunday is a normal working day. In its decision, the High Court had particular regard to the absence of consistency across sectors in relation to such matters as to the requirement to pay a Sunday Premium and a confusion between what had been established in statute for universal application and what was being imposed through EROs.

In this context, the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012 provides for a new definition of "remuneration" for the purposes of formulating proposals for EROs. The proposed new statutory definition will ensure that JLCs will no longer set Sunday premium rates or any other conditions of employment already covered by universal standards provided for in existing legislation. Workers' entitlements to a Sunday Premium will, of course, continue to be reserved under Section 14 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. To complement the removal of the Sunday Premium from the purview of JLCs, I have requested the Labour Relations Commission to develop a Code of Practice on Sunday Working in those sectors covered by JLCs. The development of this Code will complement the provisions at Section 14 of the OWT Act and ensure that best practices are operated by all employers for those employees who are currently covered by JLCs and who work in sectors where Sunday working is widely practised.