The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin to pay nurse Claire Faughey €300 after finding it had underpaid her public-holiday entitlement. The decision was dated 4 October 2023.
Faughey normally worked 10-hour shifts from Monday to Friday. She argued that public-holiday pay should reflect her normal 10-hour day, while the hospital said it used a formula based on an agreement and policy.
The adjudicator found her daily hours and hourly rate were fixed. The officer said a contract or collective agreement could not override her statutory entitlement. Under the rules, where an employee normally works on a public holiday, payment should reflect the normal daily hours last worked before that holiday.
Two complaints under the Organisation of Working Time Act were upheld. The hospital was ordered to comply with the rules and pay €300, including actual loss, on one complaint, and €100 on the other. Two Payment of Wages complaints were partly well founded, but no additional compensation was awarded because the facts overlapped and further payment would be double compensation.