The Complainant was hired as a Supervisor for the Respondent company on a 39-hour contract. He commenced the contract on the 26th of March 2018. Due to various reasons such as lack of staff and problems with suppliers for the restaurant, the Complainant was required to work for a tremendous number of hours. He was reassured by the Respondent’s Director that he would get time in lieu or extra holidays for any overtime he did.

The Complainant submitted that due to the lack of qualified personnel he would have to cover various positions within the restaurant such as the Kitchen Porter and the Cleaner. The Complainant spent approximately 2 hours per day travelling to work. On one occasion, the Respondent offered to pay for a B&B but this never materialised.

After three months of hard work and no appreciation received, the Complainant decided to hand in his notice in June 2018. The Complainant was informed by the Respondent that they were not legally forced to pay extra hours and that he (the Complainant) should know that, in the industry, extra hours are required to be worked.

According to the Respondent, the Complainant’s contract was on a salaried basis and no overtime was either requested or approved. The Respondent stated that they did appreciate the contribution made by the Complainant and therefore he was offered an ex-gratia payment of €1,000 in appreciation of the extra effort he had put into the business.

The Adjudicating Officer was satisfied that there was a clear breach of the 1997 Act as the Complainant had worked an average of 63 hours per week. Therefore, the Complainant was awarded €1,750 in compensation.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2019/october/adj-00017048.html