An amendment to the Employment Regulation Order (ERO) for the contract cleaning sector came into force on 1st June and includes a new minimum hourly pay rate of €13.30 for all workers over 20 years of age.
The ERO not only sets minimum pay rates, the number of paid holidays and a mandatory entitlement to a sick pay scheme but also deals with issues such as uniform costs. The ERO specifies that in relation to uniform charges, they must cease for all existing workers in the industry. For new workers, an initial one-off charge of €15.00 will be payable towards the cost of all uniforms which will be supplied by the employer. This payment can be made over three pay periods.
If a worker resigns within the first six months of employment a further €10.00 may be deducted by the employer from any wages due to the worker.
On the deduction of Union dues at source the ERO states that “Each employer shall, on receipt of a written request from members, deduct union dues from workers’ wages”.
Completed rosters setting out all hours of work for a minimum period of one week will be made available to workers in writing under the terms of the ERO. Further to this, it stipulates that other than “in exceptional circumstances completed rosters will be issued and made available to the worker a minimum of three days in advance of commencement”.