Employers who do not include time spent by staff on call as part of the working week could find themselves in breach of the EU Working Time Directive.
An "opinion" of an advocate general of the European Court of Justice to this effect could have serious consequences for the health services, where groups ranging from non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) to paramedics, nurses and childcare workers often find themselves rostered for on-call duties.
NCHDs could find the opinion of the advocate general particularly useful as they enter the last phase of current talks on a new contract. The opinions of the EU court's advocate generals are followed in about 90 per cent of cases.
The director of industrial relations of the Irish Medical Organisation, Mr Fintan Hourihan, who represents the majority of the State's 2,900 NCHDs, welcomed the opinion yesterday. He said the IMO had been "fighting hard at EU level for on-call working to be included in the Working Time Directive definition. The vast majority of on-call work is spent in hospitals."
The general secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation, Mr Liam Doran, said he was seeking a meeting with the Health Service Employers Agency to discuss the implications. The largest group of nurses affected would be those providing cover for operating theatres in the State's 46 acute hospitals.
IMPACT national secretary Mr Kevin Callinan also welcomed the advocate general's opinion. He said childcare workers formed one of the groups most exploited by the on-call system as they were required to sleep over at residential centres. Payment for the sleep-over is only £12, although an expert review group recently recommended it be increased to £20.
Last month's strike by NCHDs over low pay and long working hours was called off after the HSEA agreed to implement new overtime rates and to ensure that local hospital managements abided by the existing 65-hour contract.
Talks on a new contract are due to conclude by Friday, but progress is reported to be difficult. The prospect of on-call time being included in the working week could strengthen the bargaining power of the IMO, but may create problems in reaching targets to reduce the working week.
The case of overtime on-call working was referred to the EU court from Spain, where a hospital doctor brought a case against his employer on the issue.
Meanwhile, the INO executive is to consider a proposal to seek Dublin "weighting" of pay to compensate for the extra accommodation and transport costs of working in the capital, when it meets today and tomorrow. Staff nurse shortages have been particularly acute in Dublin and Cork in recent years.