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2 1936

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT, 1936

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Short title and commencement.

1. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Conditions of Employment Act, 1936.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as shall be fixed for that purpose by order of the Minister.

Definitions.

2. —In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce:

the word “inspector” means a person who is for the time being an inspector for the purpose of the Factory and Workshop Acts, 1901 to 1920;

the expression “industrial undertaking” means an undertaking in which industrial work is carried on by way of trade or for the purposes of gain or for the supply of any public service or is carried on by a local authority or other public body in the exercise or performance of statutory powers or duties;

the word “worker” means a person, other than an outworker, who does industrial work for a salary or wages, or for the purpose of learning any trade or calling;

the word “outworker” means a person who for salary or wages does industrial work in his own home or in some other place not under the control or management of his employer on articles given out by or provided at the expense of such employer for delivery to such employer or to some other person nominated by such employer after the doing of such industrial work;

the expression “adult worker” means a worker whose age is not less than eighteen years;

the expression “young person” means a worker whose age is less than eighteen and more than fourteen years;

the word “woman” means a woman whose age is not less than eighteen years;

the expression “representatives of employers” means such association or all such associations of employers as are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of the employers in relation to whom the expression is used or, where in the opinion of the Minister there is no such association, persons who are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of such employers;

the expression “representatives of workers” means such association or all such associations of workers as are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of the workers in relation to whom the expression is used or, where in the opinion of the Minister there is no such association, persons who are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of such workers;

the expression “short day” means the day which is for the time being the short day for any industrial undertaking for the purposes of this Act;

the expression “ordinary working day” means any day which is not a short day, a Sunday, nor a public holiday;

the word “premises” includes buildings of every description, and also includes land with no building thereon, whether such land is or is not used in connection with a building;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.

Industrial work.

3. —(1) In this Act the expression “industrial work” does not include agricultural, commercial, nor domestic work nor mining nor the transport of persons or goods, but subject to that limitation the said expression includes all forms of industrial work and in particular industrial work done for or in connection with any of the following activities, that is to say:—

(a) manufacturing, altering, cleaning, repairing, ornamenting, finishing, adapting for sale, testing, grading, packing, breaking up, demolishing or transforming any article;

(b) the killing of any animal or bird;

(c) constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, repairing, altering, demolishing any railway, tramway, harbour, dock, pier, canal, inland waterway, road, tunnel, bridge, viaduct, sewer, drain, well, pipe, electrical undertaking, gas work, waterwork, factory, or other work of construction, laying or removing foundations, or laying out or clearing any site for any such construction;

(d) the construction, maintenance, alteration or repair of any telegraphic or telephonic installation;

(e) the generation, transformation, transmission, distribution or control of electricity or other forms of power;

(f) the production and distribution of gas;

(g) the storage and distribution of water;

(h) the disposal of sewage;

(i) quarrying, irrespective of the depth of the quarry;

(j) constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, repairing, altering, fitting, painting, decorating or demolishing any building or constructing, laying or removing foundations, or laying out or clearing the site for the construction of any building;

(k) shipbuilding, or reconstructing, repairing, fitting or refitting or demolishing ships;

(l) removing from the ground stone, slate or sand otherwise than for the purpose of a mine;

(m) printing and all other modes (exclusive of writing and typewriting) of representing or reproducing words, figures, pictures, or designs;

(n) the cleaning of any place where industrial work is carried on.

(2) For the purpose of this section—

the expression “agricultural work” means the work of any farm or garden or of forestry and includes any form of industrial work done as part of the work of a farm or garden for the purpose of carrying on the business thereof and for no other purpose;

the expression “commercial work” means work of a clerical nature, the work of overseeing, directing and managing industrial work, or work done for or in connection with the sale, wholesale or retail, of any article;

the expression “domestic work” includes the work of preparing food in any hotel or restaurant if the food so prepared is intended only for consumption in such hotel or restaurant or in a place where the person who carries on such hotel or restaurant caters for the supply of meals.

Employer.

4. —(1) In this Act the word “employer” means a person, other than a person who is an exempted employer for the purpose of this section, who is liable for the payment of salary or wages or for the provision of instruction or experience or for both such payment and provision to a worker in consideration of the doing of any industrial work, or who is liable for the payment of salary or wages to an outworker for such consideration.

(2) Where the amount of any form of industrial work done in the carrying on of any undertaking is so small that in the opinion of the Minister the provisions of this Act cannot be conveniently applied to the employment of workers to do such form of industrial work in such undertaking, the Minister may, upon the application in the prescribed form of the person carrying on such undertaking, grant to such person a licence to employ workers in such undertaking to do such form of industrial work while remaining exempt from the provisions of this Act and while any such licence remains in force the person to whom such licence is granted shall in respect of the employment of workers in such undertaking to do such form of industrial work, be an exempted employer for the purpose of this section.

(3) Every licence granted under this section, unless previously revoked by the Minister, shall remain in force for the period specified therein and shall then expire.

(4) The Minister may at any time while a licence granted under this section remains in force revoke such licence by seven days' notice in writing to the person to whom such licence was granted.

Continuous.

5. —Where the employment of a worker with a particular employer is interrupted by reason of the illness of such worker, the temporary cessation of the work on which he is so employed, the temporary reduction of the weekly quantity of such work, or any other temporary cause not due to the act or default of such worker, such worker shall, for the purpose of reckoning any period of continuous employment with such employer within the meaning of any section of this Act, be deemed to have been in the employment of such employer during such interruption if, but only if, the following conditions are complied with, that is to say:—

(a) at the end of such interruption such worker returns to employment with the employer with whom he had been employed immediately before such interruption, and

(b) such worker is not employed in any form of industrial work during such interruption, and

(c) the duration of such interruption does not exceed one month.

Application of Act to persons employed by the State.

6. —This Act applies in relation to persons employed by or under the State (other than members of the Defence Forces of Saorstát Eireann or of the Gárda Síochána) in like manner as if such persons were employed by a private person.

Public holiday.

7. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the following days and no other days shall be public holidays within the meaning and for the purposes of this Act, that is to say:—

(a) Christmas Day when it falls on a weekday or, when it falls on a Sunday, the 27th day of December, and

(b) St. Stephen's Day when it falls on a weekday or, when it falls on a Sunday, the next following Monday, and

(c) St. Patrick's Day when it falls on a weekday or, when it falls on a Sunday, the next following Monday, and

(d) Easter Monday, Whit Monday, and the first Monday in August.

(2) Whenever in any year a day is appointed under the Public Holidays Act, 1924 (No. 56 of 1924), to be a bank holiday instead of a day mentioned in the next preceding sub-section of this section, the day so appointed shall in that year be deemed to be substituted throughout this section for the day so mentioned and this section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(3) Any employer may, on giving not less than one month's previous notice to all persons in his employment, substitute for the purposes of this section, any of the following days for St. Stephen's Day when it falls on a weekday or, when it falls on a Sunday, for the next following Monday, that is to say:—

(a) the 1st day of January,

(b) the 6th day of January,

(c) Ascension Thursday,

(d) the Feast of Corpus Christi,

(e) the 29th day of June,

(f) the 15th day of August,

(g) the 1st day of November,

(h) the 8th day of December.

(4) Any employer may, on giving not less than one month's previous notice to all persons in his employment, substitute, for the purposes of this section, in any year any of the following days for Easter Monday, Whit Monday, or the first Monday in August, that is to say:—

(a) Ascension Thursday,

(b) the Feast of Corpus Christi,

(c) the 29th day of June,

(d) the 15th day of August.

(5) The following provisions shall have effect for the purposes of the two next preceding sub-seections of this section, that is to say:—

(a) the notice mentioned in each of the said two next preceding sub-sections shall be in writing and may be given to any person by handing a copy thereof to him personally or by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous position in the place in which such person is employed;

(b) no day mentioned in either of the said two next preceding sub-sections shall be substituted under that sub-section in a year in which such day falls on a Sunday;

(c) when a day mentioned in either of the said two next preceding sub-sections is substituted under that sub-section by an employer in respect of any year, the day so substituted shall, in that year and in respect of all persons employed by such employer, be a public holiday within the meaning aud for the purposes of this Act instead of the day for which it is so substituted.

Repeals.

8. —The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of the said Schedule.

Penalties for offences under this Act.

9. —(1) Every person guilty of an offence under any section of this Act shall, save in the case of an offence for which a special penalty is provided by this Act, be liable on summary convict on thereof—

(a) where such person is a worker, to a fine—

(i) in the case of a first such offence, not exceeding two pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding ten shillings for every day on which such offence is continued, and

(ii) in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, not exceeding five pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding one pound, for every day on which such offence is continued, or

(b) where such person is not a worker, to a fine—

(i) in the case of a first such offence, not exceeding ten pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding two pounds for every day on which such offence is continued, and

(ii) in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, not exceeding twenty pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding four pounds for every day on which such offence is continued.

(2) A prosecution for an offence under any section of this Act may be brought at the suit of the Minister.

(3) A prosecution for an offence under any section of this Act may be brought at any time within whichever of the following periods latest expires, that is to say:—

(a) three months after the date on which it is certified in writing sealed with the official seal of the Minister that evidence sufficient to justify the institution of such prosecution came into the possession or procurement of the Minister, or

(b) six months after the commission of the offence.

Laying of regulations before Houses of Oireachtas.

10. —Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat annulling such regulation, such regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such regulation.

Power to make regulations.

11. —The Minister may by order make regulations prescribing any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

Observance of international conventions.

12. —The Minister shall, in the exercise of every or any power of making regulations conferred on him by this Act, have due regard to the provisions of the several international conventions for the time being ratified by and binding on the Government of Saorstát Eireann.