Hours of Work in Ireland
Capital
Dublin
Official Language
English, Irish
Currency
Euro
Payroll cycle
Monthly or weekly
Quick facts about Ireland
Ireland is home to a number of major tech companies, including Microsoft, Apple, and Meta. Known as a friendly country with high levels of education, Ireland is a booming talent hotspot for companies looking to recruit top talent. With significant growth in sectors such as IT, energy, environmental engineering, and medical devices, the country is quickly becoming one of the most important economies in the European Union.
Standard hours of work in Ireland
The average working day in Ireland is 8 hours per day, for a total of around 39-40 hours per week.
Working weeks are usually Monday to Friday between 9:00am-5:30pm that includes at least a 30 minutes (or an hour) lunch break.
Maximum hours
Employees may not work more than 48 hours in 1 week calculated over a 4-month average period. Employees in Ireland (even high-level salaried employees) are unable to opt out of having a maximum amount of work hours in order to work for a longer period of time per day or week.
Overtime pay
Employers are not required to pay employees for overtime. Some employers may choose to pay overtime–but it’s not a statutory requirement.
Employers who need employees to work overtime must stipulate these hours and any overtime pay in the employment contract.
Sunday working
Employers are required to provide employees additional compensation if they are required to work on Sunday. Sunday is considered an off-day throughout Ireland. Employers can choose to give a pay increase, an allowance, or another day off in lieu of Sunday.
Night work
In Ireland, night workers refers to any work done between midnight and 7:00am. Night employees are considered anyone who works at least 3 hours in that time frame or who works a night shift for at least half of their working hours per year.
Night shift employees should not work more than 8 hours in a 24 hour period.
Rest periods In Ireland
Rest periods in Ireland
Workers are entitled to the following unpaid break rights in Ireland:
15 minute break for those who have worked at least 4.5 hours
30 minute break for those who have worked at least 6 hours
11 hours of rest between working days
Weekly rest periods must be uninterrupted for at least 24 consecutive hours
Banded hours in Ireland
Employees have the right to request a banded hours contract if their working hours over the past 12 months do not reflect their actual working hours.
When an employee requests this, employers must provide the contract unless there is no merit to the claim or there have been extreme circumstances that changed the employer's business in the last 12 months or caused by a temporary situation.
Time-tracking obligations in Ireland
Employers in Ireland are required to keep records of their employees work each day and each week as well as any accrued leave for at least 7 years.
The records should include the following:
Name and address of each employee, their PPS number, and a brief statement of their duties as an employee
A copy of the statement of employment provided to each employee under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994–2014
Days and hours worked by each employee
The days and hours of leave granted to each employee in each week for annual leave or a public holiday, and the payment made to each employee for that leave
Any additional day's pay for a public holiday provided in each week to each employee
A copy of a written record of a notification of working time issued to an employee as provided for in Section 17 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997
The records kept by an employer must be presented in a format that can be easily understood by an inspector, who has the power to get full access to these records
Employers who do not follow these time-tracking obligations correctly can receive a fine of up to $1,900 EUR and an extra $600 EUR per day for each day the offense continues to happen.
Why companies partner with Via
Via makes hiring talent around the world and building your global team seamless by helping you onboard workers in as little as 2-3 business days. With our easy-to-use platform, Via helps you manage local HR processes for direct employment such as work visas & permits, employee data privacy compliance, benefits, global payroll, background checks, and more. Our team of local labor lawyers and on-the-ground experts provide 24-hour local support and ensure that your company remains compliant while expanding abroad. As your employer-of-record/entity abroad, Via assumes responsibility for employment liability, so that you can focus on what matters: recruiting and managing your team.
