A HIGH Court action taken by four non-consultant doctors and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) against the Health Service Executive (HSE) over its failure to implement limits on working hours under a European directive has been settled.
The doctors had sought an instruction from the court directing the HSE to implement the European Working Time Directive – which states that they should not work longer than 48 hours per week – and to provide damages to those affected.
The deal allows for a new contract for non-consultant hospital doctors to take effect from February 8th, which will incorporate issues relating to working practices and payments addressed in two recent Labour Court recommendations.
The settlement deal maintains that non-consultant doctors may be rostered to work up to 24 consecutive hours subject to provision of equivalent compensatory rest, but that they may not be rostered to work a period of 24 consecutive hours on more than a one in five basis.
The agreement also provides for new arrangements for training for non-consultant doctors.
It says that rostered time spent training where the doctor is not on call shall not count as working time for the purposes of the legislation.
All rostered hours spent training shall be treated the same as working hours for payment purposes
The deal also says that the Irish Medical Organisation will not institute or procure proceedings against the HSE in the High Court or other forums regarding non-compliance with the European Working Time Directive and related national legislation for the next two years.
A dispute over whether each non-consultant doctor is entitled to 39 hours employment each week will be referred to the Labour Relations Commission and in the absence of agreement to the Labour Court for binding arbitration.
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