The Labour Court increased a compensation award to €1,000 after finding that HSE South (St Patrick’s Hospital) denied care assistant Ruth Power an afternoon break on 12-hour shifts. The decision was signed on 31 March 2016.
Power appealed a Rights Commissioner award of €200. She told the Court that staff shortages prevented her from taking the break and that she had raised the issue with her manager. The HSE said rosters provided for breaks but it kept no records of those Power took and could not contradict her evidence.
The Court accepted Power’s evidence that she worked more than four and a half hours without a break on 12-hour shifts. It found an infringement of section 12 of the Organisation of Working Time Act and varied the earlier decision, ordering the HSE to pay €1,000.