Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Christopher  Morrissey

Roc Recycling Solutions Ltd

Representatives

Self Represented

HR Manager

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 27 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

CA-00079974-001

25/01/2026

The Complainant is employed as an Operator and claimed he was not paid extra pay due for working a public holiday on January 1st 2026.

The Complainant stated he worked at night shift  for 12hrs .

He  worked on 31st of December and finished at 6.00am 1st of January (Bank Holiday).

He claimed he didn't receive his Bank Holiday entitlement..

The Respondent presented a payslip that showed the Complainant was paid for his normal hours for the hours worked and paid for an additional 8 hours (even though he had only worked 6 hours on the public holiday).

The Respondent denied the claim was valid.

The Law;

Entitlement in respect of public holidays.

21.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an employee shall, in respect of a public holiday, be entitled to whichever one of the following his or her employer determines, namely—

(a) a paid day off on that day,

(b) a paid day off within a month of that day,

(c) an additional day of annual leave,

(d) an additional day’s pay:

Provided that if the day on which the public holiday falls is a day on which the employee would, apart from this subsection, be entitled to a paid day off this subsection shall have effect as if paragraph (a) were omitted therefrom.

And section 22 states that Public Holiday entitlement will be calculated as follows:

Public holidays: supplemental provisions.

22.— (1) The rate—

(a) at which an employee is paid in respect of a day off under section 21, and

(b) of an employee’s additional day’s pay under that section, shall be such rate as is determined in accordance with regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of that section.

And regulation 5 states:

5. (1) If the employee concerned works or is normally required to work during any part of the day which is a public holiday, then—

( a ) in case the employee's pay is calculated wholly by reference to any of the matters referred to in Regulation 3(2) of these Regulations, the relevant rate in respect of that public holiday shall be the sum that is equal to the sum (including any regular bonus or allowance the amount of which does not vary in relation to the work done by the employee but excluding any pay for overtime) paid to the employee in respect of the normal Daily hours last worked by him or her before that public holiday,

(b) in any other case, the relevant rate in respect of that public holiday shall be the sum that is equal to the average Daily pay (excluding any pay for overtime) of the employee calculated over—

(i) the period of 13 weeks ending immediately before that public holiday,

Findings

The Complainant stated the normal daily hours last worked by him before that public holiday was 12 hours. That is the shift he worked but that shift straddles over two days. Only 6 hours were worked on the public holiday (January 1st 2026). An additional day’s pay in this case under the Act is 6 hours not 12 hours. The Complainant was paid 8 hours on paydate 8/1/2026.

I find that the Respondent has fulfilled the requirements of the Act and the complaint is not well founded.

I find the complaint is not well founded.

Public Holiday entitlement