Some Leinster House staff worked so much overtime up to April 2020 that they almost doubled their salaries, according to an internal audit, with a fifth of staff earning 20 per cent extra in overtime.
One employee in the superintendent’s office saw their salary rise from €36,801 to €69,248, including €29,641 in overtime and €2,805 in allowances, while a second’s pay went from €30,747 to €63,244, including €26,374 in overtime as well as allowances of €6,122.
The first employee worked 61 hours a week on average during the period examined, in breach of working time legislation. Over one six-week period, staff in the superintendent’s office worked 2,108 hours of overtime, equal to eight extra full-time staff.
Seven of the 68 staff audited worked overtime equal “to more than 50% of their basic salary”, while overtime was also an issue in Leinster House’s bars and restaurants. Over six weeks, bar staff worked 204 hours of overtime, equal to one permanent staff member.
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More than 826 hours of overtime were served by restaurant staff, equal to three extra staff: “Nine employees received overtime payments that equated to more than 20% of their basic salary with no individual claiming greater than 40% of their basic salary in overtime.”
Basic pay rate
Permanent solutions should be found, such as new staff, or agency hires. Each of these options would result in “the same level of staff but at a basic pay rate rather than an overtime rate plus allowances directly linked to overtime”, noted the report.
Poor time-keeping management is exacerbated by the volume of overtime. In one case, a person was signed in as working from 9.00 to 11.40, but it is unclear if the worker was on a short 2½-hour shift or a marathon working day from morning until night.
A clock-in system should be considered to give an “unambiguous and permanent log”, stated the audit. Equally, there are issues about holiday leave being carried from one year to the next. Three out of eight employees carried forward excessive days over three years.
The internal audit was finalised in April 2020 and later sought by an Oireachtas worker under Freedom of Information legislation. However, access was denied with the Oireachtas saying it could compromise negotiations with staff on the issues raised.