We all know that employment law is a minefield. Sometimes it may feel like there is legislation for everything and often there are lots of ‘buzz-words’ specific to employment law being bounced around. You wouldn’t be on your own if you thought that employment law is like another language! In an effort to help employers wade through these buzz-words and parts of legislation, we at Peninsula have created our very own Employment Law Dictionary! It’s simple, concise and easy to understand. Each month we represent a letter of the alphabet and associate a few words in employment law with that letter.
Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, (OWTA)- the OWTA is an important piece of employment legislation for employers to be aware of as it sets out an employer’s obligations, and an employee’s entitlements in respect of the following:
- Maximum weekly working hours
- Rest periods - including daily rest periods, weekly rest periods and rests and intervals at work.
- Sunday working
- Nightly working hours.
- Zero hours working practices.
- Holidays and the entitlement to annual leave.
- Times and pay for annual leave.
- Public holidays.
Overpayments- Overpayments can be reasonably common in businesses operating computerised payroll systems particularly in relation to bonuses or overtime. Whether the company is legally entitled to recover the overpayment is a question commonly raised.
Essentially in order to hold onto the overpayment, the employee has to show three things. Firstly that the overpayment was the company’s fault and not the fault of the employee; secondly that the employee had reasonably assumed that they were not being overpaid and thirdly that as a consequence of the overpayment they have suffered financial disadvantage (generally meaning that the money has now been spent).
It would be unusual to be able to meet all three criteria, mainly because employees are rarely given increases in pay without having been told about it first, so the second test is particularly hard to meet. It is essential that the company’s policy in relation to overpayments is stated in the contract and employee handbook, placing the onus on the employee to report overpayments to their manager immediately. Generally speaking a fair way to deal with the situation is to discuss it with the employee and, wherever possible, agree a structure whereby the overpayment can be repaid, either from the next pay packet or in instalments over an agreed period of time where that would not be possible.
Overtime- Overtime hours are hours worked by an employee over and beyond their normal working hours. Employers should ensure that an employee’s contract clearly specifies whether or not the employee will be expected to work overtime. Even if overtime is not envisaged as being necessary for a particular employee it is prudent of an employer to reserve the right to require that employee to work overtime should the need arise.
A common misconception is that employees are entitled to additional pay over and above their normal rate when they work overtime; this is not the case. An employer can, through an employee’s contract of employment, require an employee to work overtime and they need only pay the employee’s basic rate for those overtime hours. However, it is common practice to pay an additional sum, such as time and a half or double time, where an employee works overtime and it may be most beneficial to do so as you are more likely to meet resistance from employees where they are asked to work extra hours for basic pay.
