Dublin: The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has directed the Health Service Executive (HSE) to pay €11,023 in damages to a care worker found to have worked without adequate rest breaks, a breach of Ireland’s Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997. The name of the residential care home remains undisclosed at the HSE’s request.
WRC Adjudicator Conor Stokes noted that the care worker, identified as Nurse Jackie Dewey, rarely received breaks beyond short pauses with residents. This compensation was achieved through the intervention of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) after Dewey’s claim of working for 26 years without proper rest periods. Niall O’Sullivan, representing the PNA, brought the case to the WRC, citing a significant lapse in compliance with rest break entitlements under the Working Time Act. The PNA had previously reached out to the HSE regarding the lack of structured breaks, only to receive confirmation that formal rest periods were indeed absent.
The HSE countered, asserting that Dewey could have taken breaks in the relatively calm environment of the care home and arguing that he had the opportunity to take phone calls or rest in his car if needed. A clinical nurse manager testified that employees are entitled to a 15-minute rest period in the kitchen area; however, the HSE could not produce written evidence of this policy.
Ultimately, the WRC found the HSE unable to document its break policy, resulting in the compensation order for Dewey’s lost rest periods.
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