Labour Court awards Sean Herlihy €200 after Southern Health Board appeal

The Labour Court allowed Sean Herlihy’s appeal and directed Southern Health Board to pay him €200 compensation after finding his complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act was well founded. The determination was dated 27 November 2003. Herlihy, an emergency medical technician, worked a 19-hour shift ending at 3pm on 7 December 2002. He returned to work at 11pm rather than his usual 8pm start, but the final three hours of the eight-hour rest period were treated as absence and deducted from his pay. The Board argued his work was exempt from the usual daily rest rules and that equivalent compensatory rest could be provided. The Court found that the eight-hour break was not equivalent compensatory rest as required by the rules. It rejected Herlihy’s claim that the three hours had to be paid, but found the Board had failed to provide the required rest. It set aside the Rights Commissioner’s decision and allowed the appeal.