Prior to the introduction of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, job-sharers were entitled to half of the ten public holidays. In effect, this meant that whenever a public holiday fell on a job sharer's week off, they would not receive any benefit for that public holiday. Job-sharing staff who were scheduled to work on a week in which a public holiday fell were, and still are, entitled to:
- a paid day off on the holiday itself; or
- a paid day off within a month; or
- an extra day's annual leave; or
- an extra day's pay
The provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, however, improve public holidays for some but not all job-sharers.
Under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, job-sharers who work Monday to Friday and who work week on/week off, split week or similar arrangement, are entitled to an additional one-tenth of a fortnight's pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are not scheduled to work.
The Act does not provide any additional benefit to job-sharers who work shifts because they already receive more than the legal minimum requirement.
The additional benefit, therefore, applies only to those job-sharing nurses who:
Work Monday to Friday and who work week on/week off, split weeks or similar arrangements.
The additional benefit does not apply to those job-sharing nurses who:
Work a '5 over 7' roster (seven day week) because they already receive more than the legal minimum requirement, i.e. they receive an additional five days annual leave in lieu of their liability to work public holidays;
They receive single-time extra (i.e. an additional day's pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are scheduled to work.
Job-sharing nurses who work a half-day on/half-day off arrangement do not receive an additional benefit under the Act - they continue to receive one-tenth of a fortnight's pay for each of the ten public holidays.