Paddy Power workers win compensation for lack of rest breaks

Bookie to pay out a total of €10,100 to 11 employees while others set to claim

The Mandate trade union expects members to get between €60,000 and €70,000 in "winnings" from Paddy Power Betfair after a ruling in a dispute over the denial of rest breaks for staff.

The comments by divisional organiser Robert McNamara came after a second tranche of decisions by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Tuesday, ordering Paddy Power to pay 11 workers a cumulative €10,100 in compensation for the denial of rest breaks.

Mr McNamara said Mandate has lodged 78 separate cases on behalf of members and expects awards of €60,000-€70,000 in total when all the cases are concluded on the basis of the awards to date.

The WRC has already made rulings concerning 42 cases, resulting in awards amounting to €38,000 against Paddy Power.

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A spokesman for Paddy Power Betfair plc said: “We have systems in place to enable employees to take their breaks, and we will continue to ensure that our employees get them.

“We are disappointed with this ruling but we will be abiding by it and reviewing our processes accordingly.”

Mandate took the cases under the Organisation of Time Act. The union argued at the WRC that the workers had not received their statutory break entitlements throughout the course of their employment.

At the hearings, the trade union said Paddy Power Betfair did not have a clocking facility in operation in their stores, nor did it have any documentation to prove that the workers have taken rest breaks.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times