Contract Cleaning ERO - Key Elements

The Contract Cleaning Industry has always been extremely proactive in respect of JLC discussions. Indeed, when EROs were rendered unconstitutional in July 2011, the Industry was a long way towards introducing a replacement industry wide REA but this stalled due to the constitutional challenge to those agreements also. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Contract Cleaning Industry are first, along with the Security Industry, to introduce a new ERO. The new ERO is not too dissimilar to the old ERO which existed up to 2011. The key elements of the new ERO are as follows:

• Under the old system there used to be one JLC/ERO for Dublin and a separate JLC/ERO for the rest of Ireland. This geographical distinction has been removed and the one ERO applies nationwide.
• The new ERO applies to “the cleaning of premises by companies engaged in whole or in part on the provision of cleaning and janitorial services in establishments such as hospitals, offices, factories, shops, stores, apartment buildings, hotels, airports and similar establishments on a contract basis.” This is a broader definition than the old ERO which made no reference to apartment buildings, hotels, airports.
• All employees will be entitled to receive minimum hourly pay of €9.75 per hour from 1^st October 2015. This rate of €9.75 will then remain in force for 12 months.

• Annual leave entitlements will be in accordance with standard minimum entitlements under the Organisation of Working Time Act.

• Under the old ERO employees were entitled to a day’s holiday or double time or a day off in lieu in respect of Good Friday. Under the new ERO, employees will be entitled to public holiday terms in respect of Good Friday provided (a) they were employed prior to 02^nd August 2012, and/or (b) they are entitled to such a rate in their contract of employment. However, for all other employees Good Friday will just be deemed a normal working day.

• Like annual leave, public holiday entitlements will be in accordance with standard minimum entitlements under the Organisation of Working Time Act.
• The new ERO, like the previous one, still requires an employer to give specific terms of employment to employees within one month of the commencement of employment. Emploeyrs are strongly encouraged to seek advice on contractual terms as the terms set out in the ERO may not be sufficient to meet the requirements of the Terms of Employment Act.

• Under the new ERO, employees will “be entitled to request and receive from his/her employer a certificate of service showing the period of their employment and the accrued length of his/her service, once per annum”. This also applies in the event of employees transferring from an outgoing contractor to an incoming contractor.
• The Protection of Employment policy has been retained whereby employers will be required to give all reasonable notice of impending redundancies to the workers concerned.
• The ERO has also retained an expanded version of the Disclosure of Information policy. Under this, employers are required to provide employees, and their representatives, with at least 30 days advance notice of the date that a cleaning contract will be terminated.
• The Sick Pay Scheme remains unchanged from the previous ERO. Employees will still be required to submit a medical certificate upon the 3^rd day of absence and on a weekly basis thereafter. Employees will not be entitled to any sick pay benefits for the first 5 days of absence. Sick benefit remains at 20% of the employee’s basic rate and this will be for 6 weeks in any 12 month rolling period. Employees can choose to opt in or out of the scheme in January of each year and if they can opt in then they will be expected to contribute 0.5% of their basic pay rate to the scheme.
• Employees may be moved to a different site upon their return from maternity leave where it is not possible to return them to the same site.
• The new ERO continues to refer to required dismissal procedures, and that warning levels will be required but may be bypassed where circumstances require and that appropriate trade union or fellow employee representation is required at any stage of the disciplinary procedure.
• The new ERO contains a brand new provision on Representation Rights.  The new ERO states that, where appropriate, an employment contract must outline the name of the recognised trade union. This would not mean that each employer must recognise a trade union but where one is recognised then this must be stated in the employment contract,
• The new ERO has retained the old policy whereby an employer must notify staff of any change of the company name or address at least five days before the change takes effect. Employees will also be obliged to provide two weeks’ notice of any change in their own personal address.
• The new ERO has retained the Contributions to Revenue policy whereby employers must provide evidence of payments made to Revenue or the Department of Social Protection when requested by the employee.
• The Deduction of Union Dues policy has also been retained whereby an employer will be required to deduct union dues from an employee’s wages when requested.
• Overtime rates will apply where the employee works in excess of 44 hours in a week. Should this occur, then the overtime rate is time and a half for the first 4 hours overtime, and then double time for every additional overtime hour worked. That being said, the ERO specifically states that working overtime hours will be deemed voluntary and employees may legitimately opt out of doing so.
• Similar to the previous ERO, there is an additional premium for overtime worked on a Sunday whereby Sunday overtime will be at double time for all hours.
• The Death in Service Benefit remains largely unchanged in general. Employees must still have 2 years qualifying service to be entitled to the benefit which remains at €5,000 and this will be payable to all employees up to the age the State pension becomes payable to them.

  If you have any questions on the ERO then please do not hesitate to contact one of our experienced consultants 24 hours a day on 01 855 50 50.