A nurse in a Killybegs day centre has been awarded €9,380 following a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) over HSE North West’s failure to provide her with rest breaks.
Melissa Gallagher, who worked as a nurse at Clara House intellectual disability services centre, claimed she was denied uninterrupted rest breaks during her employment in 2022-2023.
Ms Gallagher was required to take her breaks in the same room as service users. She claimed that this resulted in her sometimes having to feed a service user, supervise a service user, cut up food for a service user at the same time as she was supposedly taking her rest breaks.
Without a separate room for staff, Ms Gallagher argued that her allocated rest breaks were not actually breaks. She claimed that this was the case nearly every day and every break during her employment from September 2022 to February 2023, when she went on sick leave and then left the service on the 21st of April 2023.
Ms Gallagher claimed that Clara House was understaffed with a lack of health care assistants. She said she was often the only nurse who was on duty, and a trained clinician is required to be present with service users at all times.
The WRC adjudication also noted that Ms Gallagher raised a grievance with the HSE because the centre was understaffed. She also had an internal grievance over the HSE North West’s failure to provide her with breast feeding breaks during her working day. This turned into an industrial relations grievance. Neither grievance was upheld.
Ms Carmel Boyle, the manager of Clara House, gave evidence that statutory rest breaks are provided to all staff. Break times are allocated in time slots and posted on a staff noticeboard each morning.
Ms Boyle said that rest breaks are usually required to be taken by staff in a shared dining room alongside service users. If a staff member needed to leave the building during a break, this could be done if management is informed in advance and only, if and when adequate cover is in place.
WRC adjudication officer Emile Daly said that Ms Gallagher’s complaint was well founded.
“In reality the rest breaks were not rest periods because they were working time,” Ms Daly said.
“Working in disability services can be exhausting work. At the risk of understatement rest breaks are particularly necessary for staff working within this area.”
The award to Ms Gallagher was ten weeks gross salary, which is €9,380.00.
