S.I. No. 51/1994:

EMPLOYMENT REGULATION ORDER (AGRICULTURAL WORKERS JOINT LABOUR COMMITTEE), 1994.

EMPLOYMENT REGULATION ORDER (AGRICULTURAL WORKERS JOINT LABOUR COMMITTEE), 1994.

WHEREAS the Labour Court (hereinafter called "the Court") pursuant to the provisions of Section 43 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , made an Employment Regulation Order dated 28th October, 1992 ( S.I. No. 305 of 1992 ) (hereinafter called "the said Order") fixing the statutory minimum remuneration and regulating the statutory conditions of employment of workers in relation to whom the Agricultural Workers Joint Labour Committee (hereinafter called "the Committee") operates;

AND WHEREAS the Committee has submitted to the Court a proposal for revoking the said Order;

AND WHEREAS the Committee has also submitted to the Court the proposals set out in the Schedule hereto for fixing the statutory minimum rates of remuneration and regulating the statutory conditions of employment of workers in relation to whom the Committee operates;

AND WHEREAS the provisions of Section 48 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990 (hereinafter called "the 1990 Act") have been complied with;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Court in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 48 of the 1990 Act hereby orders as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Employment Regulation Order (Agricultural Workers Joint Labour Committee), 1994.

2. Effect is hereby given to the proposals set out in the Schedule hereto.

3. The provisions set out in the Schedule hereto shall have effect as from 14th March, 1994 and as from that date the said Order shall be revoked.

NOTE: Enquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, Joint Labour Committees, The Labour Court, Tom Johnson House, Haddington Road, Dublin 4 (Telephone 6608444 Extension Nos. 301, 303 and 304).

SCHEDULE

PART I

Statutory Minimum Remuneration and Conditions of Employment of Agricultural Workers

Section 1 -- Minimum time -- rates other than those as provided at Section 2.

Section 2 -- Minimum time-rates applicable only in respect of work done under a contract of employment for a definite period of five months or longer.

Per Month

PART II

Normal Working Week

Section 1 -- The normal number of hours to be worked by workers in relation to whom the Committee operates shall be as follows:--

The maximum number of hours which may be worked by workers over 16 years and under 18 years shall be governed by the provisions of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1977 .

The 39 hour week may be implemented in any one of the following ways, depending on the needs of the business.

( a ) a 39 hour week on a year round basis, the timing of the 1 hour reduction to be agreed at local level.

( b ) 38 hours for 6 consecutive months.

40 hours for 6 consecutive months.

(The months/weeks to be agreed at local level).

( c ) 36 hours for 3 consecutive months.

40 hours for 9 consecutive months.

(The months/weeks to be agreed at local level).

Employees should not suffer a loss or gain in weekly pay for normal hours as a result of the above.

In the case of options b and c, normal weekly pay will not vary in relation to hours worked in the shorter/longer periods, but will be paid as though a 39 hour week was worked on a year round basis.

Provided that

(i) All time worked on Sunday and on Public Holidays or substituted Church Holidays and all time worked after one p.m. on the short day shall be regarded as overtime to which the appropriate overtime rates as set out in Section 3 hereof shall apply.

(ii) The overtime rates shall be payable in respect of all time worked in any week (Monday to Saturday inclusive) in excess of the declared normal number of hours of work for that week.

Section 2 -- The monthly rates shall cover all time worked in the month exclusive of time worked after one p.m. on the short day, time worked on Sunday and time worked on Public Holidays or substituted Church Holidays.

For workers for whom the statutory minimum rate of wages is a rate per month, for all time worked after one p.m. on the short day and all time worked on Sunday and on Public Holidays or substituted Church Holidays shall be regarded as overtime to which the appropriate overtime rates as set out in Section 4 hereof shall apply.

Section 3 -- Short Day: Unless otherwise agreed or in the absence of agreement or in the absence of a statement under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 , Saturday shall be the short day.

Section 4 -- Overtime Rates: The minimum rates for overtime to apply in respect of time worked in excess of the normal number of hours of work shall be as follows:--

(i) Overtime will be paid after normal hours and will be based on the new hourly rate of 1/39th.

In the case of options (b) and (c) in Section 1, overtime will apply after normal hours in the appropriate period i.e. in (b) after 38 hours for 6 months, after 40 hours for 6 months and in (c) after 36 hours for 3 months and 40 hours for 9 months.

(ii) For all time worked on any day other than Sunday in excess of the normal number of hours of work and for all time worked after one p.m. on the short day the overtime rate shall be one-and-a-third times the minimum time-rate otherwise applicable i.e. time-and-one-third.

(iii) For all time worked on Public Holidays or substituted Church Holidays the overtime rate shall be one-and-a-third timesthe minimum time-rate otherwise applicable i.e. time-and-one-third.

(iv) For all time worked in any week (Monday to Saturday inclusive) in excess of the declared normal number of hours for the week the overtime rate shall be one and a third times the minimum time-rate otherwise applicable i.e. time-and-one-third.

(v) For all time worked on Sunday the overtime rate shall be one and two third times the minimum time-rate otherwise applicable i.e. time-and-two-thirds.

(vi) For workers for whom the statutory minimum rate of wages is a rate per month the overtime rate shall be calculated on the basis of a rate equivalent to the minimum time-rate applicable to a worker of corresponding age for whom the statutory minimum rate is either a rate per week or a rate per hour and in respect of time worked other than on Sunday shall be time-and-one-third and in respect of time worked on Sunday shall be time-and-two-thirds.

PART III

Benefits or Advantages

Section 1 -- Where any agricultural employer provides any agricultural worker in his employment with all or any of the benefits or advantages specified at Section 2 below, such benefits or advantages shall for the purpose of computing the remuneration paid to such agricultural workers, be reckoned as payment of wages in lieu of payment in cash and the value at which any such benefit or advantage so provided is to be so reckoned shall be defined at Section 2 below.

Section 2 -- Benefits or advantages and value at which they are to be reckoned as payment of wages in lieu of payment in cash.

PART IV

Holidays

1. General

Annual leave shall be granted in accordance with Holidays (Agricultural Workers) Regulations, 1977 ( S.I. No. 64 of 1977 ) subject to the following amendments, which became effective from 1st November, 1977.

(1) Workers in relation to whom the Committee operates shall be granted holidays in accordance with the provisions of the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973 , as made applicable to agricultural workers by the Holidays (Agricultural Workers) Regulations, 1977. The qualifying hours for annual leave are now the same as those for industrial workers. Those workers who do not have 20 days Annual Leave shall be entitled to a total of 20 days paid leave in the holiday year. The entitlement to these additional day(s) shall be based on the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973 as amended by the Holidays (Agricultural Workers) Regulations, 1977.

(2) For the purpose of computing holiday remuneration, benefits or advantages provided for the worker by his employer shall be reckoned as payment of holiday remuneration in lieu of payment in cash to the same extent as they are to be reckoned as payment of wages in accordance with Section 1 of Part III above.

(3) Absence from work on a day of paid leave or Public Holiday or substituted Church Holiday shall be deemed to be time worked.

Note: A separate explanatory leaflet regarding holiday entitlements of agricultural workers will be available on application to the Joint Labour Court, Tom Johnson House, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.

2. Definitions

"Wet-time" means all absences from work due to inclement weather where the employee is not paid full wages.

"Leave year" means a year beginning on the first day of January.

3. (1) An employee shall be entitled to paid leave (in this Act referred to as annual leave) in respect of a leave year in which he has at least one qualifying month of service.

(2) Annual Leave shall be equivalent to 20 days paid leave where there are twelve qualifying months of service and subject to the next subsection, to proportionately less where there are eleven or fewer such months.

(3) Annual leave shall also be equivalent to 20 days paid leave where the employee works for the employer at least 1,400 hours (or 1,300 hours if under 18 years of age) during the leave year unless it is a leave year during which he changes his employment.

(4) A day which, apart from this subsection, would be a day of annual leave shall, if it is a day of illness in respect of which a certificate of a registered medical practitioner is furnished, be taken as not being a day of annual leave.

(5) (a) Where there are eight or more qualifying months of service annual leave shall, subject to any registered employment agreement, or agreement with the employee's trade union, include an unbroken period equivalent to two working weeks.

(b) When ascertaining for the purposes of this subsection, whether a period is equivalent to two working weeks, the fact that a day is a public holiday or a day of illness shall be disregarded.

(6) Where board or lodging or both board and lodging is part of remuneration the employee may, subject to being given double pay, elect not to take annual leave.

(7) (a) In this section "qualifying month of service" means any month (January to December) during which the employee has worked for the employer at least 120 hours (or 110 hours if under 18 years of age). '

(b) For the purposes of subsection (3) and of the previous paragraph--

(i) A day of annual leave shall be taken as if the employee worked thereon the hours he would have worked if not on leave, and

(ii) Wet time shall be taken to be hours worked up to a maximum, in the case of subsection (3), of 480 hours in the leave year or, in the case of the previous paragraph, 40 hours in the month.

4. Short term and part-time workers:

(a) In the case of day to day and part-time employments, the employee must, for entitlement under this section, have worked for the employer for at least 120 hours (or 110 hours if under 18 years of age) during the five weeks ending on the day before the public holiday.

(b) For the purpose of this section:

(i) time off allowed by Act or Order shall be taken to be time worked;

(ii) wet time shall be taken to be hours worked up to a maximum of 50 hours.

5. Cesser Pay:

(a) Where employment on a day to day basis ceases and the employee, annual leave not being due to him, has, during the 30 days ending on the day before cessation of employment, worked for the employer for not less than 120 hours (or 110 hours if under 18 years of age), the employer shall pay compensation to him consisting of an extra day and a quarter's pay.

(b) Where employment ceases during the five weeks ending on the day before a public holiday and the employee has, during the part of that period before the cessation worked for the employer for at least 120 hours (or 110 hours if under 18 years of age), the employer shall pay compensation to him in respect of the public holiday consisting of an extra day's pay.

6. For the purposes of the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973 the following interpretations of sections 6 (1) (b) and 6 (1) (c), respectively will apply to Agricultural Worker:

"(b) to the agricultural worker and his employer making such arrangements as they think fit for the allowance of holiday and

(c) to the conditions that holidays to be allowed in respect of any year or any period of a year be allowed before the end of the year, and, if the employment terminates during the year, the holidays shall be allowed before such termination."

The said Act shall be further interpreted with respect to Agricultural Workers as follows:

"Where it is the custom for an agricultural employer to grant to an agricultural worker a day's leave with full pay to attend a sporting or other events held on a day other than a Sunday, a Public Holiday or a Church Holiday, not more than six such days may be regarded as annual holidays for the purposes of the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973 ".

PART V

Workers to whom this Order Applies

The minimum remuneration and conditions of employment set out in this Order shall apply, subject to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1946 to 1976, to all agricultural workers. All workers who are employed in the mushroom growing industry and whose wages and conditions of employment are governed by a Registered Employment Agreement are excluded from the scope of the Order. All grooms are included in the scope of the Order except those whose wages and conditions are regulated by a Registered Employment Agreement.

For the purpose of this Order--

AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYER means a person who employs other persons as agricultural workers;

AGRICULTURAL WORKER means a person employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship whose work under the contract is or includes work in agriculture but does not include a person whose work under such contract is mainly domestic service;

AGRICULTURE means horticulture, the production of any consumable produce, which is grown for sale or for consumption or other use, dairy farming, poultry farming, the use of land as grazing, meadow or pasture land or orchard or osier land or woodland, or for market gardens, private gardens, nursery grounds or sports grounds, the caring for or the rearing or training of animals and any other incidental activities connected with agriculture.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Labour Court, this 8th day of March, 1994.

(Signed) KEVIN HEFFERNAN,

Chairman.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Instrument fixes with effect as from the 14th March, 1994 statutory minimum rates of remuneration and statutory conditions of employment of agricultural workers as defined by the Industrial Relations Act, 1976 . It has special provision in respect of workers employed in the mushroom growing industry and there is also special provision made in respect of grooms. It is made by the Labour Court on the recommendation of the Agricultural Workers Joint Labour Committee.