Boarding school told to pay €6,900 to matron after claim she worked 76 hours a week
A senior house matron at a boarding school who claimed she worked 76 hours a week has won her claim for working excessive hours.
In response to a number of workplace breaches, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has ordered the unnamed secondary day and boarding school to pay its former employee a total of €6,900.
WRC Adjudication Officer, Marie Flynn ordered the school to pay the senior house matron €3,000 in response to her claim for working excessive hours after dismissing the school’s argument that there was “a tradition’ of residential staff staying overnight during term time.
The senior house matron was made redundant last Summer after working for the school since 2007.
The ex-employee lodged her various claims with the WRC last October.
In her claim in relation to excessive hours, the senior house matron stated that she was required by her employer to be present at her place of work every Sunday to Thursday night from 11pm to 7am when she would be either on sleepover duty or on call.
She said that being on sleepover duty meant that her name and telephone number would be given to the students and they would know to contact or call her, if necessary.
The senior house matron further argued that while she was present at her workplace at night she was prohibited from drinking, smoking or having visitors.
She said when she was at her place of employment at night she was working and, therefore, she worked 76 hours per week.
In response, the school denied that the matron was required to work excessive hours and that she was rostered for a total of 32 hours per week.
The school stated that there was “a tradition” in the school for residential staff to stay overnight on the campus during term time.
The school accepted that while the matron was required to reside on campus during term time, it contended that when she was not rostered for sleepover duty she was off duty and was not on call.
However, WRC Adjudication Officer, Ms Flynn dismissed the school’s case in her findings by ordering it to pay €3,000 to the senior house matron for the excessive hours she worked.
In her findings, Ms Flynn said: “The notion that staff would be required to remain on the premises without being on call is not plausible.”
"If there was no expectation that staff would be on call, then I am at loss to understand the requirement for them to remain on the premises, thereby unduly restricting their personal lives."
Ms Flynn stated that the senior house matron was obviously constrained in her behaviour whilst she was on the school premises whether or not she was on duty.
Ms Flynn said: “Her time would not be her own to spend it as she wished.”
Ms Flynn stated that taking everything into account, she found that the senior house matron was required to remain at her workplace overnight where she was either on sleepover duty or on call and, therefore “all of the time that the Complainant was required to be at her place of work should properly be categorised as working time”.
Ms Flynn also ordered the school to pay the senior school matron an additional €3,000 for not giving her a rest break on the days she stayed over.
She also ordered the school to pay its former employee €100 for not providing weekly rest breaks; €300 for not being compensated for working Sundays and €500 for not receiving rest breaks.
