Bar employees require mandatory overtime pay after 11:30pm when hours are extended

Bar workers are demanding mandatory late-night overtime payments as pubs and nightclubs are due to open into the wee hours later this year.

As part of a major overhaul of licensing laws, they will also seek legislation with “punitive” penalties to make employee abuse or sexual abuse in the industry a legal offense.

Last October, the cabinet agreed to extend the opening hours of pubs and clubs. It backed legislation allowing pubs to be open from 10:30am to 12:30am, seven days a week. Nightclubs can stay open until 6am.

Attorney General Helen McEntee said at the time the plan was aimed at helping a sector that was “dying”.

Gerry Light, general secretary of the retail union mandate, said it wanted bonus payments worth at least a factor and a half for employees.

The union, which represents 30,000 retail and catering workers, will tell a Dáil committee today that it wants employers to make mandatory bonus payments after 11.30pm.

“The situation regarding bonus payments is pervasive,” said Mr. Light.

“I used to be President of the Bar Workers’ Union and they used to have a central bargaining unit for the Leinster area.

“That doesn’t exist anymore, and it’s now hit and miss whether employees get overtime.”

He said unpaid “clean-up time” is one of the biggest abuses in the industry.

“Sometimes it’s even hard to get paid for hours worked,” he said.

The draft mandate to the Joint Judiciary Committee states that bar workers have the lowest flat tax breaks among blue-collar workers and are often forced to pay for their uniforms.

It was more than 15 years ago that the relief rate was increased to 93 euros.

The template calls for transportation or payment for transportation for employees who have unsocial hours on their alcohol sales bill template.

She is calling for tougher penalties for employers who break the law on the time workers should be given for breaks.

The union is calling for licenses to be revoked when an employer violates labor laws, and for the employer’s name and company to be made public.

It says the Workplace Relations Commission does not have the resources to conduct inspections to ensure compliance.

Mandate calls for a dedicated forum for the sector.

The filing said the licensed trade sector employs an estimated 50,000 workers, but there has been a significant brain drain since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the committee is told that if the law goes into effect, it will lead to an increase in alcohol-related deaths.

Alcohol Action Ireland will request a retraction of the proposed extension of opening hours. It said the well-being of citizens and public health must take precedence over “self-interest” who have pushed for legislation to “further liberalize” alcohol sales.

The group will say that a study in Norway found a 16 per cent increase in violent crime is associated with every additional hour added to opening hours.

AAI Board Chair Professor Frank Murray will say alcohol is responsible for four deaths every day.

He will say hospitalizations for alcohol-related liver disease increased 262 percent between 1995 and 2017.