The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (OWT Act) continued to be a prominent source of appeals from decisions of Rights Commissioners to the Labour Court in 2012, with almost one hundred appeals being disposed of during the course of the year.

The OWT Act is a difficult and technical piece of legislation, with a wide and disparate set of provisions providing minimum employment rights including the areas of working hours, premium for Sunday working, rest between periods of work, rest breaks and access to annual leave and public holiday entitlements. An important principle that employers must bear in mind with this legislation is the necessity to keep records of compliance for at least three years under the terms of