Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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196. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if a person in receipt of carer's benefit and working 15 hours per week, is entitled to be paid for public holidays under the Organisation of Working Time Act, for example, if that person can receive payment for a public holiday that is not a normally scheduled working day for that person; if that person will exceed the threshold of fifteen hours per week working; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4620/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Where a carer receives a paid public holiday for a day which is not a normal scheduled working day, s/he is not considered to have exceeded the 15 hour threshold for the purposes of qualifying for Carer’s Benefit.

The Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation has responsibility for the operation of the legislation to which the deputy refers and has advised that in relation to public holidays that, during an absence on carer’s leave, an employee can benefit from public holiday entitlements for the first 13 weeks of the leave (under Section 13(3) of the Carer’s Leave Act 2001). This entitlement is not conditional on the employee having worked during those 13 weeks. After the 13-week period referred to in Section 13(3) of the Carer’s Leave Act, the general rules regarding public holidays, set out in Sections 21 and 22 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, apply to employees on Carer’s Leave. Section 21(4) of the 1997 Act provides that a part-time employee must have worked at least 40 hours for their employer during the 5-week period ending on the day before the public holiday to qualify for the public holiday entitlement. Public holiday entitlement can take the form of whichever of the following the employer determines: (a) A paid day off on the public holiday (if the public holiday falls on a day that the employee normally works)(b) A paid day off within a month of that day(c) An additional day of annual leave(d) An additional day’s pay Calculation of pay for public holiday entitlement is determined by S.I. No. 475/1997 – Organisation of Working Time (Determination of Pay for Holidays) Regulations 1997.